Her1 antigen binding proteins binding to the beta-hairpin of her1

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to anti-HER1 antigen binding proteins, e.g. anti-HER1 antibodies, that bind to the beta-hairpin of HER1, methods for selecting these antigen binding proteins, their preparation and use as medicament.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to European Patent Application No. EP14168320.1 filed May 14, 2014, the disclosure of which is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

SEQUENCE LISTING

The present application contains a Sequence Listing which has beensubmitted in ASCII format via EFS-Web and is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety. Said ASCII copy, created on May 11, 2015, isnamed P32121-US_ST25.txt and is 99,142 bytes in size.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to anti-HER1 antigen binding proteins, e.g.anti-HER1 antibodies, that bind to the beta-hairpin of HER1, methods forselecting these antigen binding proteins, their preparation and use asmedicament.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The HER protein family consists of 4 members: HER1, also named epidermalgrowth factor receptor (EGFR) or ErbB-1, HER2, also named ErbB-2,ErbB-3, also named HER3 and ErbB-4, also named HER4. The ErbB familyproteins are receptor tyrosine kinases and represent important mediatorsof cell growth, differentiation and survival. The HER family representreceptor proteins of different ligands of the epidermal growth factorfamily (EGF-family) like epidermal growth factor (EGF), the neuregulin(NRG) family, amphiregulin, and transforming growth factor-α (TGF-a).

HER1 and Anti-HER1 Antibodies

Human HER1 ((also known as epidermal growth factor receptor EGFR orErb-B1,) is a 170 kDa transmembrane receptor encoded by the c-erbBproto-oncogene, and exhibits intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity(Modjtahedi, H., et al., Br. J. Cancer 73 (1996) 228-235; Herbst, R. S.,and Shin, D. M., Cancer 94 (2002) 1593-1611). SwissProt database entryP00533 provides the sequence of HER1 (SEQ ID NO: 2). There are alsoisoforms and variants of HER1 (e.g., alternative RNA transcripts,truncated versions, polymorphisms, etc.) including but not limited tothose identified by Swissprot database entry numbers P00533-1, P00533-2,P00533-3, and P00533-4. HER1 is known to bind ligands including α),epidermal growth factor (EGF), transforming growth factor-α (TGF),amphiregulin, heparin-binding EGF (hb-EGF), betacellulin, and epiregulin(Herbst, R. S., and Shin, D. M., Cancer 94 (2002) 1593-1611; Mendelsohn,J., and Baselga, J., Oncogene 19 (2000) 6550-6565). HER1 regulatesnumerous cellular processes via tyrosine-kinase mediated signaltransduction pathways, including, but not limited to, activation ofsignal transduction pathways that control cell proliferation,differentiation, cell survival, apoptosis, angiogenesis, mitogenesis,and metastasis (Atalay, G., et al., Ann. Oncology 14 (2003) 1346-1363;Tsao, A. S., and Herbst, R. S., Signal 4 (2003) 4-9; Herbst, R. S., andShin, D. M., Cancer 94 (2002) 1593-1611; Modjtahedi, H., et al., Br. J.Cancer 73 (1996) 228-235).

Unconjugated monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) can be useful medicines forthe treatment of cancer, as demonstrated by the U.S. Food and DrugAdministration's approval of Trastuzumab (Herceptin™; Genentech Inc,)for the treatment of advanced breast cancer (Grillo-Lopez, A. J., etal., Semin. Oncol. 26 (1999) 66-73; Goldenberg, M. M., Clin. Ther. 21(1999) 309-18), Rituximab (Rituxan™; IDEC Pharmaceuticals, San Diego,Calif., and Genentech Inc., San Francisco, Calif.), for the treatment ofCD20 positive B-cell, low-grade or follicular Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma,Gemtuzumab (Mylotarg™, Celltech/Wyeth-Ayerst) for the treatment ofrelapsed acute myeloid leukemia, and Alemtuzumab (CAMPATH™, MilleniumPharmaceuticals/Schering AG) for the treatment of B cell chroniclymphocytic leukemia. The success of these products relies not only ontheir efficacy but also on their outstanding safety profiles(Grillo-Lopez, A. J., et al., Semin. Oncol. 26 (1999) 66-73; Goldenberg,M. M., Clin. Ther. 21 (1999) 309-18). In spite of the achievements ofthese drugs, there is currently a large interest in obtaining higherspecific antibody activity than what is typically afforded byunconjugated mAb therapy.

The results of a number of studies suggest that Fc-receptor-dependentmechanisms contribute substantially to the action of cytotoxicantibodies against tumors and indicate that an optimal antibody againsttumors would bind preferentially to activation Fc receptors andminimally to the inhibitory partner FcγRIIB (Clynes, R. A., et al.,Nature Medicine 6(4) (2000) 443-446; Kalergis, A. M., and Ravetch, J.V., J. Exp. Med. 195(12) (2002) 1653-1659. For example, the results ofat least one study suggest that polymorphism in the FcγRIIIa receptor,in particular, is strongly associated with the efficacy of antibodytherapy. (Cartron, G., et al., Blood 99 (3) (2002) 754-758). That studyshowed that patients homozygous for FcγRIIIa have a better response toRituximab than heterozygous patients. The authors concluded that thesuperior response was due to better in vivo binding of the antibody toFcγRIIIa, which resulted in better ADCC activity against lymphoma cells(Cartron, G., et al., Blood 99(3) (2002) 754-758).

Various strategies to target EGFR and block EGFR signaling pathways havebeen reported. Small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors like gefitinib,erlotinib, and CI-1033 block autophosphorylation of EGFR in theintracellular tyrosine kinase region, thereby inhibiting downstreamsignaling events (Tsao, A. S., and Herbst, R. S., Signal 4 (2003) 4-9).Monoclonal antibodies, on the other hand, target the extracellularportion of EGFR, which results in blocking ligand binding and therebyinhibits downstream events such as cell proliferation (Tsao, A. S., andHerbst, R. S., Signal 4 (2003) 4-9).

Several murine monoclonal antibodies have been generated which achievesuch a block in vitro and which have been evaluated for their ability toaffect tumor growth in mouse xenograft models (Masui, H., et al., CancerRes. 46 (1986) 5592-5598; Masui, H., et al., Cancer Res. 44 (1984)1002-1007; Goldstein, N., et al., Clin. Cancer Res. 1 (1995) 1311-1318).For example, EMD 55900 (EMD Pharmaceuticals) is a murine anti-EGFRmonoclonal antibody that was raised against human epidermoid carcinomacell line A431 and was tested in clinical studies of patients withadvanced squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx or hypopharynx (Bier, H.,et al., Eur. Arch. Otohinolaryngol. 252 (1995) 433-9). In addition, therat monoclonal antibodies ICR16, ICR62, and ICR80, which bind theextracellular domain of EGFR, have been shown to be effective atinhibiting the binding of EGF and TGF-α the receptor. (Modjtahedi, H.,et al., Int. J. Cancer 75 (1998) 310-316). The murine monoclonalantibody 425 is another MAb that was raised against the human A431carcinoma cell line and was found to bind to a polypeptide epitope onthe external domain of the human epidermal growth factor receptor.(Murthy, U., et al., Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 252(2) (1987) 549-560. Apotential problem with the use of murine antibodies in therapeutictreatments is that non-human monoclonal antibodies can be recognized bythe human host as a foreign protein; therefore, repeated injections ofsuch foreign antibodies can lead to the induction of immune responsesleading to harmful hypersensitivity reactions. For murine-basedmonoclonal antibodies, this is often referred to as a Human Anti-MouseAntibody response, or “HAMA” response, or a Human Anti-Rat Antibody, or“HARA” response. Additionally, these “foreign” antibodies can beattacked by the immune system of the host such that they are, in effect,neutralized before they reach their target site. Furthermore, non-humanmonoclonal antibodies (e.g., murine monoclonal antibodies) typicallylack human effector functionality, i.e., they are unable to, inter alia,mediate complement dependent lysis or lyse human target cells throughantibody dependent cellular toxicity or Fc-receptor mediatedphagocytosis.

Chimeric antibodies comprising portions of antibodies from two or moredifferent species (e.g., mouse and human) have been developed as analternative to “conjugated” antibodies. For example, U.S. Pat. No.5,891,996 (Mateo de Acosta del Rio, C. M., et al.) discusses amouse/human chimeric antibody, R3, directed against EGFR, and U.S. Pat.No. 5,558,864 discusses generation of chimeric and humanized forms ofthe murine anti-EGFR MAb 425. Also, IMC-C225 (Erbitux®; ImClone) is achimeric mouse/human anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody (based on mouse M225monoclonal antibody, which resulted in HAMA responses in human clinicaltrials) that has been reported to demonstrate antitumor efficacy invarious human xenograft models. (Herbst, R. S., and Shin, D. M., Cancer94 (2002) 1593-1611). The efficacy of IMC-C225 has been attributed toseveral mechanisms, including inhibition of cell events regulated byEGFR signaling pathways, and possibly by increased antibody-dependentcellular toxicity (ADCC) activity (Herbst, R. S., and Shin, D. M.,Cancer 94 (2002) 1593-1611). IMC-C225 was also used in clinical trials,including in combination with radiotherapy and chemotherapy (Herbst, R.S., and Shin, D. M., Cancer 94 (2002) 1593-1611). Recently, Abgenix,Inc. (Fremont, Calif.) developed ABX-EGF for cancer therapy. ABX-EGF isa fully human anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody. (Yang, X. D., et al., Crit.Rev. Oncol./Hematol. 38 (2001) 17-23).

So far it was not possible to select antigen binding proteins, inparticular antibodies, that specifically bind to the beta-hairpin ofHER1 as this beta-hairpin of HER1 represents a hidden epitopes, which isnot accessible in the equilibrium state of HER1 (see FIG. 1 and Lemmon,M A, Exp Cell Res. Feb. 15, 2009; 315(4): 638-648)).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

We now have found a method using the beta-hairpin of HER1 functionallypresented in a 3-dimensional orientation within SlyD scaffolds (see e.gFIG. 2, and the polypeptides of SEQ ID NOs. 12 to 16, and 18) to obtainsuch antibodies.

The invention provides a method for selecting an antigen bindingprotein, in particular an antibody, that binds to human HER1,

wherein the antigen binding protein, in particular the antibody, bindswithin an amino acid sequence of PPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ ID NO:1) ofhuman HER1;

wherein

-   -   a) at least one polypeptide selected from the group consisting        of:

SEQ ID NO: 12 TtSlyDcas-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 14 TtSlyD(GSG)-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 15 TtSlyD(CC)-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 16 TtSlyD(SS)-HER1, and SEQ ID NO: 18 TgSlyDcys-HER1,

-   -   which comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1;

is used to select antigen binding proteins, in particular antibodies,which show binding to the at least one polypeptide under a),

and thereby selecting an antigen binding protein, in particular anantibody that binds within an amino acid sequence ofPPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ ID NO:1) of human HER1.

The invention provides an antigen binding protein, in particular anantibody, obtained by such selection method.

The invention provides an isolated an antigen binding protein, inparticular an antibody, that binds to human HER1, wherein the antigenbinding protein, in particular the antibody, binds within an amino acidsequence of PPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ ID NO:1) of human HER1.

The invention further provides an isolated antigen binding protein thatbinds to human HER1, wherein the antigen binding protein binds to apolypeptide of

SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-HER1; or SEQ ID NO: 18 TgSlyDcys-HER1.

The invention further provides an isolated antigen binding protein thatbinds to human HER1, wherein the antigen binding protein binds to apolypeptide of

SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-HER1.

The invention further provides an isolated antigen binding protein thatbinds to human HER1, wherein the antigen binding protein binds to apolypeptide of

SEQ ID NO: 18 TgSlyDcys-HER1.

The invention further provides an isolated antigen binding protein thatbinds to human HER1,

-   wherein the antigen binding protein binds within an amino acid    sequence of PPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ ID NO:1) which is comprised in    a polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-HER1.

The invention further provides an isolated antigen binding protein thatbinds to human HER1,

-   wherein the antigen binding protein binds within an amino acid    sequence of PPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ ID NO:1) which is comprised in    a polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 18 TgSlyDcys-HER1.

The invention further provides an isolated antibody that binds to humanHER1, wherein the antibody binds to a polypeptide of

SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-HER1; or SEQ ID NO: 18 TgSlyDcys-HER1.

The invention further provides an isolated antibody that binds to humanHER1, wherein the antibody binds to a polypeptide of

SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-HER1.

The invention further provides an isolated antibody that binds to humanHER1, wherein the antibody binds to a polypeptide of

SEQ ID NO: 18 TgSlyDcys-HER1.

The invention further provides an isolated antibody that binds to humanHER1, wherein the antibody binds within an amino acid sequence ofPPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ ID NO:1) which is comprised in a polypeptideof SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-HER1.

The invention further provides an isolated antibody that binds to humanHER1, wherein the antibody binds within an amino acid sequence ofPPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ ID NO:1) which is comprised in a polypeptideof SEQ ID NO: 18 TgSlyDcys-HER1.

In one preferred embodiment the isolated antigen binding protein orantibody does not induce phosphorylation of HER1 in A549 cancer cells(ATCC CCL-185) in the absence of EGF.

In one preferred embodiment the isolated antigen binding protein orantibody is non-agonistic with respect to the phosphorylation of HER1 inA549 cancer cells (ATCC CCL-185) in the absence of EGF.

The invention provides an isolated antibody that binds to human HER1,wherein the antibody binds to the amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO:1 inactivated HER1.

The invention provides an isolated antibody that binds to human HER1,wherein the antibody binds to the amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO:1 inactivated HER1; and inhibits the homodimerisation of HER1 homodimers.

The invention provides an isolated antibody that binds to human HER1,wherein the antibody binds to the amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO:1 inactivated HER1; and inhibits the heterodimerisation of HER1/HER2heterodimers.

The invention provides an isolated antibody that binds to human HER1,wherein the antibody has on or more of the following properties:

-   -   a) binds to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1; and/or    -   b) binds to the amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO:1 in activated        HER1; and/or    -   c) binds within an amino acid sequence of PPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK        (SEQ ID NO:1) which is comprised in a polypeptide selected from        the group consisting of:

SEQ ID NO: 12 TtSlyDcas-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 14 TtSlyD(GSG)-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 15 TtSlyD(CC)-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 16 TtSlyD(SS)-HER1, and SEQ ID NO: 18 TgSlyDcys-HER1,

-   -   -   and/or

    -   d) binds to the β-hairpin region of HER1; and/or

    -   e) inhibits the heterodimerisation of HER1/HER2 heterodimers;        and/or

    -   f) has no crossreactivity with HER2, HER3 and/or HER4; and/or

    -   g) the antibody binds to a polypeptide with a length of 15 amino        acids comprising the amino acid sequence TYQMDVNPEG (SEQ ID        NO:19); and/or

    -   h) binds to a polypeptide consisting of TYQMDVNPEG (SEQ ID        NO:19); and/or

    -   i) the antibody binds to a polypeptide with a length of 15 amino        acids comprising the amino acid sequence MLYNPTTYQ (SEQ ID        NO:20); and/or

    -   j) binds to a polypeptide consisting of MLYNPTTYQ (SEQ ID        NO:20); and/or

    -   k) does not induce phosphorylation of HER1 in A549 cancer cells        (ATCC CCL-185) in the absence of EGF; and/or

    -   l) is a non-agonistic antibody with respect to the        phosphorylation of HER1 in the absence of EGF; and/or

    -   m) shows more than 70 percent internalization of HER1 in the        presence of EGF after 2 h after incubation with the antibody in        a Western Blot assay with HER1 expressing A549 cells (ATCC        CCL-185) and shows less than 55 percent internalization of HER1        in the absence of EGF after 2 h after incubation with the        antibody in a Western Blot assay with HER1 expressing A549        cells.

In one embodiment such anti-HER1 antibody is a monoclonal antibody.

In one embodiment such anti-HER1 antibody is a human, humanized, orchimeric antibody.

In one embodiment such anti-HER1 antibody is an antibody fragment thatbinds human HER1.

-   -   a) all three heavy chain HVRs and all three light chain HVRs of        the deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14 (DSM ACC3240);    -   b) all three heavy chain HVRs and all three light chain HVRs of        the deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.110.23 (DSM ACC3241);    -   c) all three heavy chain HVRs and all three light chain HVRs of        the deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-37.058.09 (DSM ACC3238);    -   d) all three heavy chain HVRs and all three light chain HVRs of        the deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-37.186.15 (DSM ACC3239).

One embodiment of the invention is humanized anti-HER1 antibody whichcomprises

-   -   a) all three heavy chain HVRs and all three light chain HVRs of        the deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14 (DSM ACC3240);    -   b) all three heavy chain HVRs and all three light chain HVRs of        the deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.110.23 (DSM ACC3241);    -   c) all three heavy chain HVRs and all three light chain HVRs of        the deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-37.058.09 (DSM ACC3238);    -   d) all three heavy chain HVRs and all three light chain HVRs of        the deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-37.186.15 (DSM ACC3239).

-   In one embodiment such anti-HER1 antibody is a full length IgG1    antibody or IgG4 antibody.

In one embodiment such anti-HER1 antibody is a Fab fragment.

The invention further provides an isolated nucleic acid such anti-HER1antibody.

The invention further provides a host cell comprising such nucleic acid.

-   The invention further provides a method of producing an antibody    comprising culturing such host cell so that the antibody is    produced.-   In on embodiment such method further comprises recovering the    antibody from the host cell.-   The invention further provides an immunoconjugate comprising such    anti-HER1 antibody and a cytotoxic agent.-   The invention further provides a pharmaceutical formulation    comprising such anti-HER1 antibody and a pharmaceutically acceptable    carrier.

The invention further provides the anti-HER1 antibody described hereinfor use as a medicament. The invention further provides the anti-HER1antibody described herein, or the immunoconjugate comprising theanti-HER1 antibody and a cytotoxic agent, for use in treating cancer.The invention further provides the anti-HER1 antibody described hereinfor use in inhibition of HER family dimerization (HER1 homo- orheterodimerization, e.g. HER1 homodimerization, or HER1/HER2heterodimerization)

Use of such anti-HER1 antibody, or an immunoconjugate comprising theanti-HER1 antibody and a cytotoxic agent, in the manufacture of amedicament. Such use wherein the medicament is for treatment of cancer.Such use wherein the medicament is for the inhibition of HER1 homo- orheterodimerization.

The invention further provides a method of treating an individual havingcancer comprising administering to the individual an effective amount ofthe anti-HER1 antibody described herein, or an immunoconjugatecomprising the anti-HER1 antibody and a cytotoxic agent.

The invention further provides a method of inducing apoptosis in acancer cell in an individual suffering from cancer comprisingadministering to the individual an effective amount of animmunoconjugate comprising the anti-HER1 antibody described herein and acytotoxic agent, thereby inducing apoptosis in a cancer cell in theindividual.

One embodiment of the invention is a polypeptide selected from the groupconsisting of:

SEQ ID NO: 12 i) TtSlyDcas-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 13 ii) TtSlyDcys-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 14 iii) TtSlyD(GSG)-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 15 iv) TtSlyD(CC)-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 16 v) TtSlyD(SS)-HER1, and SEQ ID NO: 18 vi) TgSlyDcys-HER1,

which polypeptide comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1.

The invention further provides the use of one of such polypeptidesselected from the group consisting of:

SEQ ID NO: 12 i) TtSlyDcas-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 13 ii) TtSlyDcys-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 14 iii) TtSlyD(GSG)-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 15 iv) TtSlyD(CC)-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 16 v) TtSlyD(SS)-HER1, and SEQ ID NO: 18 vi) TgSlyDcys-HER1,

for eliciting an immune response against SEQ ID NO:1 in an experimentalanimal.

The invention further provides a method for producing an antibodyspecifically binding to the β-hairpin of HER1 with the amino acidsequence of SEQ ID NO:1 comprising the following steps:

-   a) administering to an experimental animal a polypeptide selected    from the group consisting of:

SEQ ID NO: 12 i) TtSlyDcas-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 13 ii) TtSlyDcys-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 14 iii) TtSlyD(GSG)-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 15 iv) TtSlyD(CC)-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 16 v) TtSlyD(SS)-HER1, and SEQ ID NO: 18 vi) TgSlyDcys-HER1,

for at least one time, whereby the polypeptide comprises the β-hairpinof HER1 with the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1,

-   b) recovering from the experimental animal three to ten days after    the last administration of the polypeptide B-cells that produce the    antibody specifically binding to the β-hairpin of HER1 with the    amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, and-   c) cultivating a cell comprising a nucleic acid encoding the    antibody specifically binding to the β-hairpin of HER1 with the    amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 and recovering the antibody from    the cell or the cultivation medium and thereby producing an antibody    specifically binding to a target antigen.

The invention further provides the use of a polypeptide selected fromthe group consisting of:

SEQ ID NO: 12 i) TtSlyDcas-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 13 ii) TtSlyDcys-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 14 iii) TtSlyD(GSG)-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 15 iv) TtSlyD(CC)-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 16 v) TtSlyD(SS)-HER1, and SEQ ID NO: 18 vi) TgSlyDcys-HER1,

for epitope mapping, whereby the polypeptide comprises the epitope inthe β-hairpin of HER1 with the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1.

Using the beta-hairpin of HER1 functionally presented in a 3-dimensionalorientation within SlyD scaffolds (see e.g FIG. 2, and the polypeptidesof SEQ ID NOs. 12 to 16, and 18) the anti-HER1 antigen binding proteins,in particular antibodies, described herein binding to this beta-hairpincould be selected. It was found that the antigen binding proteins, inparticular antibodies, according to the invention have highly valuableproperties such as the binding to the activated form of HER1, so theyshow a clearly stronger HER1 internalization in the presence than in theabsence of EGF. They are non-agonistic antibodies with respect to thephosphorylation of HER1 (they do not induce HER1 phosphorylation in HER1expressing cancer cells) in absence of EGF (and therefore are likely toshow less side effects during HER1 antibody therapy like e.g. skinrash).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 Schematic overview of “closed” and “open” HER1 conformation andthe influence of the EGF ligand on the conformation change.

FIG. 2 3D-structure of the beta-hairpin of HER1 functionally presentedin a 3-dimensional orientation within a SlyD scaffold of Thermusthermophilus.

FIG. 3 SDS-PAGE analysis of Ni-NTA purification of TtSlyD-cas-Her1. Eshow the purified fractions. SN: E. coli lysate supernatant beforepurification.

FIG. 4 SEC elution profile of a Ni-NTA purified fraction of Thermusthermophilus TtSlyD-cas-Her1.

FIG. 5 Testing of specificity and reactivity in IHC the selectedantibodies M-31-22, M-47-13, M-50-14 (deposited MAK <HER1-DIB>M-50.097.14) and M-50-23 (deposited MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.110.23) whichbind to the β-hairpin of human HER1. As shown all antibodies specificfor the detection of HER1 and shows no cross reactivity with the othermembers of the HER family (HER2, HER3, and HER4).

FIG. 6 Strategy of the epitope mapping and alanine-scan approach. Thepeptide hairpin sequences (peptide hairpin) of HER1 (EGFR) ECD, Her-2ECD, Her-3 ECD and Her-4 ECD including their structural embeddings(structural) were investigated. Cysteins were

FIG. 7 CelluSpots™ Synthesis and Epitope Mapping of epitopes of HER1antibodies M-31-22, M-47-13, M-50-14 (deposited MAK <HER1-DIB>M-50.097.14) and M-50-23 (deposited MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.110.23). M-47-13binds to HER1 ECD binding epitope TYQMDVNPEG (SEQ ID NO:19). M-50-14(deposited MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14) and M-50-23 (deposited MAK<HER1-DIB> M-50.110.23) bind to HER1 ECD binding epitope MLYNPTTYQ (SEQID NO:20)—the amino acids which are contributing most to the binding ofare underlined/bold.

FIGS. 8A and 8B 8A (A549 cells) and 8B (A431 cells, strong HER1expression with slight constitutively activated/phosphorylated HER1).Left lane shows HER1 detection, right lane the phosphorylated HER1detection in the absence or presence of EGF

-   -   In both cancer cell lines the anti-HER1 β-hairpin antibodies        HER1 dib1=M-50-14 (=deposited MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14), HER1        dib2=M-50-23 (=deposited MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.110.23) and HER1        dib3=M-47-15 acted as non-agonistic antibody with respect to the        phosphorylation of HER1 in the absence of EGF (no induction the        phosphorylation of HER1, -EGF lane), while other HER1 antibodies        like cetuximab, GA201, described e.g. in WO 2006/082515), or        ABT806 (mAb806, described e.g in US2011/0076232) strongly        induced phosphorylation (compared to medium without antibody).

FIG. 9 Binding of anti-HER1 β-hairpin antibodies to and internalizationof anti-HER1 β-hairpin antibodies was analyzed in Western Blot using theHER1 expressing cancer cell line A549. Left side shows time dependentHER1 detection in the absence of EGF, right side shows time dependentHER1 detection in the presence of EGF. Antibody M-50-14 shows a clearlystronger HER1 internalization in the presence than in the absence ofEGF. (more than 70 percent internalization of HER1 in the presence ofEGF after 2 h after incubation with the antibody in a Western Blot assaywith HER1 expressing A549 cells and less than 55 percent internalizationof HER1 in the absence of EGF after 2 h after incubation with theantibody in a Western Blot assay with HER1 expressing A549 cells).

FIG. 10 Binding of different antibodies of the invention to HER1-ECD inthe presence of EGF.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

I. Definitions

An “acceptor human framework” for the purposes herein is a frameworkcomprising the amino acid sequence of a light chain variable domain (VL)framework or a heavy chain variable domain (VH) framework derived from ahuman immunoglobulin framework or a human consensus framework, asdefined below. An acceptor human framework “derived from” a humanimmunoglobulin framework or a human consensus framework may comprise thesame amino acid sequence thereof, or it may contain amino acid sequencechanges. In some embodiments, the number of amino acid changes are 10 orless, 9 or less, 8 or less, 7 or less, 6 or less, 5 or less, 4 or less,3 or less, or 2 or less. In some embodiments, the VL acceptor humanframework is identical in sequence to the VL human immunoglobulinframework sequence or human consensus framework sequence.

An “affinity matured” antibody refers to an antibody with one or morealterations in one or more hypervariable regions (HVRs), compared to aparent antibody which does not possess such alterations, suchalterations resulting in an improvement in the affinity of the antibodyfor antigen.

The term “antigen binding protein” as used herein refers to an antibodyas described herein or to a scaffold antigen binding protein. In onepreferred embodiment the antigen binding protein is an antibody asdescribed herein. Scaffold antigen binding proteins are known in theart, for example, fibronectin and designed ankyrin-repeat proteins(DARPins) have been used as alternative scaffolds for antigen-bindingdomains, see, e.g., Gebauer and Skerra, Engineered protein scaffolds asnext-generation antibody therapeutics. Curr Opin Chem Biol 13:245-255(2009) and Stumpp et al., Darpins: A new generation of proteintherapeutics. Drug Discov Today 13: 695-701 (2008), both of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entirety. B. Criteria forSelecting Parent Variable Domains and Receptors for antigen bindingproteins of the invention. In one embodiment a scaffold antigen bindingprotein is selected from the group consisting of CTLA-4 (Evibody);lipocalin; Protein A derived molecules such as Z-domain of Protein A(Affibody, SpA), A-domain (Avimer/Maxibody); Heat shock proteins such asGroEI and GroES; transferrin (trans-body); ankyrin repeat protein(DARPin); peptide aptamer; C-type lectin domain (Tetranectin); human.gamma.-crystallin and human ubiquitin (affilins); PDZ domains; scorpiontoxinkunitz type domains of human protease inhibitors; and fibronectin(adnectin); which has been subjected to protein engineering in order toobtain binding to a ligand other than the natural ligand.

CTLA-4 (Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte-associated Antigen 4) is a CD28-familyreceptor expressed on mainly CD4+ T-cells. Its extracellular domain hasa variable domain-like Ig fold. Loops corresponding to CDRs ofantibodies can be substituted with heterologous sequence to conferdifferent binding properties. CTLA-4 molecules engineered to havedifferent binding specificities are also known as Evibodies. For furtherdetails see Journal of Immunological Methods 248 (1-2), 31-45 (2001).

Lipocalins are a family of extracellular proteins which transport smallhydrophobic molecules such as steroids, bilins, retinoids and lipids.They have a rigid .beta.-sheet secondary structure with a number ofloops at the open end of the conical structure which can be engineeredto bind to different target antigens. Anticalins are between 160-180amino acids in size, and are derived from lipocalins. For furtherdetails see Biochim Biophys Acta 1482: 337-350 (2000), U.S. Pat. No.7,250,297B1 and US20070224633.

An affibody is a scaffold derived from Protein A of Staphylococcusaureus which can be engineered to bind to antigen. The domain consistsof a three-helical bundle of approximately 58 amino acids. Librarieshave been generated by randomisation of surface residues. For furtherdetails see Protein Eng. Des. SeI. 17, 455-462 (2004) and EP1641818A1Avimers are multidomain proteins derived from the A-domain scaffoldfamily. The native domains of approximately 35 amino acids adopt adefined disulphide bonded structure. Diversity is generated by shufflingof the natural variation exhibited by the family of A-domains. Forfurther details see Nature Biotechnology 23(12), 1556-1561 (2005) andExpert Opinion on Investigational Drugs 16(6), 909-917 (June 2007).

A transferrin is a monomeric serum transport glycoprotein. Transferrinscan be engineered to bind different target antigens by insertion ofpeptide sequences in a permissive surface loop. Examples of engineeredtransferrin scaffolds include the Trans-body. For further details see J.Biol. Chem 274, 24066-24073 (1999).

Designed Ankyrin Repeat Proteins (DARPins) are derived from Ankyrinwhich is a family of proteins that mediate attachment of integralmembrane proteins to the cytoskeleton. A single ankyrin repeat is a 33residue motif consisting of two .alpha.-helices and a .beta.-turn. Theycan be engineered to bind different target antigens by randomisingresidues in the first .alpha.-helix and a .beta.-turn of each repeat.Their binding interface can be increased by increasing the number ofmodules (a method of affinity maturation). For further details see J.MoI. Biol. 332, 489-503 (2003), PNAS 100(4), 1700-1705 (2003) and J.MoI. Biol. 369, 1015-1028 (2007) and US20040132028A1.

Fibronectin is a scaffold which can be engineered to bind to antigen.Adnectins consists of a backbone of the natural amino acid sequence ofthe 10th domain of the 15 repeating units of human fibronectin type III(FN3). Three loops at one end of the .beta.-sandwich can be engineeredto enable an Adnectin to specifically recognize a therapeutic target ofinterest. For further details see Protein Eng. Des. SeI. 18, 435-444(2005), US20080139791, WO2005056764 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,818,418B1.

Peptide aptamers are combinatorial recognition molecules that consist ofa constant scaffold protein, typically thioredoxin (TrxA) which containsa constrained variable peptide loop inserted at the active site. Forfurther details see Expert Opin. Biol. Ther. 5, 783-797 (2005).

Microbodies are derived from naturally occurring microproteins of 25-50amino acids in length which contain 3-4 cysteine bridges—examples ofmicroproteins include KalataBI and conotoxin and knottins. Themicroproteins have a loop which can be engineered to include up to 25amino acids without affecting the overall fold of the microprotein. Forfurther details of engineered knottin domains, see WO2008098796.

Other antigen binding proteins include proteins which have been used asa scaffold to engineer different target antigen binding propertiesinclude human .gamma.-crystallin and human ubiquitin (affilins), kunitztype domains of human protease inhibitors, PDZ-domains of theRas-binding protein AF-6, scorpion toxins (charybdotoxin), C-type lectindomain (tetranectins) are reviewed in Chapter 7—Non-Antibody Scaffoldsfrom Handbook of Therapeutic Antibodies (2007, edited by Stefan Dubel)and Protein Science 15:14-27 (2006). Epitope binding domains of thepresent invention could be derived from any of these alternative proteindomains.

The terms “anti-HER1 antigen binding protein”, “an antigen bindingprotein that binds to (human) HER1” and “an antigen binding protein thatbinds specifically to human HER1” and refer to an antigen bindingprotein that is capable of binding HER1 with sufficient affinity suchthat the antigen binding protein is useful as a diagnostic and/ortherapeutic agent in targeting HER1. In one embodiment, the extent ofbinding of an anti-HER1 antigen binding protein to an unrelated,non-HER1 protein is less than about 10% of the binding of the antigenbinding protein to HER1 as measured, e.g., by a Surface PlasmonResonance assay (e.g. BIACORE). In certain embodiments, an antigenbinding protein that binds to human HER1 has a KD value of the bindingaffinity for binding to human HER1 of ≤1 μM, ≤100 nM, ≤10 nM, ≤1 nM,≤0.1 nM, ≤0.01 nM, or ≤0.001 nM (e.g. 10⁻⁸ M or less, e.g. from 10⁻⁸ Mto 10⁻¹³ M, e.g., from 10⁻⁹ M to 10⁻¹³ M). In one preferred embodimentthe respective KD value of the binding affinities is determined in aSurface Plasmon Resonance assay using the wildtype Extracellular domain(ECD) of human HER1 (HER1-ECD) for the HER1 binding affinity.

The terms “anti-HER1 antibody”, “an antibody that binds to (human) HER1”and “an antibody that binds specifically to human HER1” and refer to anantibody that is capable of binding HER1 with sufficient affinity suchthat the antibody is useful as a diagnostic and/or therapeutic agent intargeting HER1. In one embodiment, the extent of binding of an anti-HER1antibody to an unrelated, non-HER1 protein is less than about 10% of thebinding of the antibody to HER1 as measured, e.g., by a Surface PlasmonResonance assay (e.g. BIACORE). In certain embodiments, an antibody thatbinds to human HER1 has a KD value of the binding affinity for bindingto human HER1 of ≤1 μM, ≤100 nM, ≤10 nM, ≤1 nM, ≤0.1 nM, ≤0.01 nM, or≤0.001 nM (e.g. 10⁻⁸ M or less, e.g. from 10⁻⁸ M to 10⁻¹³ M, e.g., from10⁻⁹ M to 10⁻¹³ M). In one preferred embodiment the respective KD valueof the binding affinities is determined in a Surface Plasmon Resonanceassay using the wildtype Extracellular domain (ECD) of human HER1(HER1-ECD) for the HER1 binding affinity.

The term “anti-HER1 antigen binding protein or anti-HER1 antibody thatbinds to the amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO:1 in activated HER1” as usedherein refers to an anti-HER1 antigen binding protein or anti-HER1antibody that binds to the amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO:1 comprised inthe human HER1-ECD.

In one preferred embodiment the term “anti-HER1 antigen binding proteinor anti-HER1 antibody that binds to the amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO:1”as used herein refers to an anti-HER1 antigen binding protein oranti-HER1 antibody that binds to the amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO:1comprised in the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 13 (TtSlyDcys-HER1).

In one embodiment the term “anti-HER1 antigen binding protein oranti-HER1 antibody that binds to the amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO:1 inactivated HER1” refers to an anti-HER1 antigen binding protein oranti-HER1 antibody that binds to the amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO:1comprised in the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 13 (TtSlyDcys-HER1).

The term “antibody” herein is used in the broadest sense and encompassesvarious antibody structures, including but not limited to monoclonalantibodies, polyclonal antibodies, multispecific antibodies (e.g.,bispecific antibodies), and antibody fragments so long as they exhibitthe desired antigen-binding activity.

An “antibody fragment” refers to a molecule other than an intactantibody that comprises a portion of an intact antibody that binds theantigen to which the intact antibody binds. Examples of antibodyfragments include but are not limited to Fv, Fab, Fab′, Fab′-SH,F(ab′)2; diabodies; linear antibodies; single-chain antibody molecules(e.g. scFv); and multispecific antibodies formed from antibodyfragments.

An “antibody that binds to the same epitope” as a reference antibodyrefers to an antibody that blocks binding of the reference antibody toits antigen in a competition assay by 50% or more, and conversely, thereference antibody blocks binding of the antibody to its antigen in acompetition assay by 50% or more. An exemplary competition assay isprovided herein.

The term “antibody (or antigen binding protein) that has/showscrossreactivity to (or alternatively that crossreacts with) (human)HER2, HER3 and/or HER4, when it does not crossreacts with Extracellulardomain (ECD) of) human HER2, HER3 and/or HER4, i.e. when the bindingsignal (in Relative Units (RU)) measured in a Surface Plasmon Resonanceassay is below three times the background signal (noise) (e.g at 25° C.with immobilized (for example captured) antibody to which the humanHER2, HER3 and/or HER4-ECD as antigen is injected as soluble analyte).

The term “cancer” as used herein may be, for example, lung cancer, nonsmall cell lung (NSCL) cancer, bronchioloalviolar cell lung cancer, bonecancer, pancreatic cancer, skin cancer, cancer of the head or neck,cutaneous or intraocular melanoma, uterine cancer, ovarian cancer,rectal cancer, cancer of the anal region, stomach cancer, gastriccancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, uterine cancer, carcinoma of thefallopian tubes, carcinoma of the endometrium, carcinoma of the cervix,carcinoma of the vagina, carcinoma of the vulva, Hodgkin's Disease,cancer of the esophagus, cancer of the small intestine, cancer of theendocrine system, cancer of the thyroid gland, cancer of the parathyroidgland, cancer of the adrenal gland, sarcoma of soft tissue, cancer ofthe urethra, cancer of the penis, prostate cancer, cancer of thebladder, cancer of the kidney or ureter, renal cell carcinoma, carcinomaof the renal pelvis, mesothelioma, hepatocellular cancer, biliarycancer, neoplasms of the central nervous system (CNS), spinal axistumors, brain stem glioma, glioblastoma multiforme, astrocytomas,schwanomas, ependymonas, medulloblastomas, meningiomas, squamous cellcarcinomas, pituitary adenoma, lymphoma, lymphocytic leukemia, includingrefractory versions of any of the above cancers, or a combination of oneor more of the above cancers. In one preferred embodiment such cancer isa breast cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, lung cancer orprostate cancer. In one preferred embodiment such cancers are furthercharacterized by HER1 expression or overexpression. One furtherembodiment the invention are the anti-HER1 antibodies of the presentinvention for use in the simultaneous treatment of primary tumors andnew metastases.

The term “chimeric” antibody refers to an antibody in which a portion ofthe heavy and/or light chain is derived from a particular source orspecies, while the remainder of the heavy and/or light chain is derivedfrom a different source or species.

The “class” of an antibody refers to the type of constant domain orconstant region possessed by its heavy chain. There are five majorclasses of antibodies: IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG, and IgM, and several of thesemay be further divided into subclasses (isotypes), e.g., IgG₁, IgG₂,IgG₃, IgG₄, IgA₁, and IgA₂. The heavy chain constant domains thatcorrespond to the different classes of immunoglobulins are called α, δ,ε, γ, and μ respectively.

The term “cytotoxic agent” as used herein refers to a substance thatinhibits or prevents a cellular function and/or causes cell death ordestruction. Cytotoxic agents include, but are not limited to,radioactive isotopes (e.g., At211, I131, I125, Y90, Re186, Re188, Sm153,Bi212, P32, Pb212 and radioactive isotopes of Lu); chemotherapeuticagents or drugs (e.g., methotrexate, adriamicin, vinca alkaloids(vincristine, vinblastine, etoposide), doxorubicin, melphalan, mitomycinC, chlorambucil, daunorubicin or other intercalating agents); growthinhibitory agents; enzymes and fragments thereof such as nucleolyticenzymes; antibiotics; toxins such as small molecule toxins orenzymatically active toxins of bacterial, fungal, plant or animalorigin, including fragments and/or variants thereof; and the variousantitumor or anticancer agents disclosed below. In one preferredembodiment the “cytotoxic agent” is Pseudomonas exotoxin A or variantsthereof. In one preferred embodiment the “cytotoxic agent” is amatoxinor a variants thereof.

The term “deposited antibody” as used herein refers to the antibodyproduced by the respective deposited hybridoma cells identified by thedesignation and deposition number. See also Deposit of biologicalmaterial below.

“Effector functions” refer to those biological activities attributableto the Fc region of an antibody, which vary with the antibody isotype.Examples of antibody effector functions include: C1q binding andcomplement dependent cytotoxicity (CDC); Fc receptor binding;antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC); phagocytosis; downregulation of cell surface receptors (e.g. B cell receptor); and B cellactivation.

An “effective amount” of an agent, e.g., a pharmaceutical formulation,refers to an amount effective, at dosages and for periods of timenecessary, to achieve the desired therapeutic or prophylactic result.

The term “epitope” includes any polypeptide determinant capable ofspecific binding to an antibody. In certain embodiments, epitopedeterminant include chemically active surface groupings of moleculessuch as amino acids, sugar side chains, phosphoryl, or sulfonyl, and, incertain embodiments, may have specific three dimensional structuralcharacteristics, and or specific charge characteristics. An epitope is aregion of an antigen that is bound by an antibody.

The term “Fc region” herein is used to define a C-terminal region of animmunoglobulin heavy chain that contains at least a portion of theconstant region. The term includes native sequence Fc regions andvariant Fc regions. In one embodiment, a human IgG heavy chain Fc regionextends from Cys226, or from Pro230, to the carboxyl-terminus of theheavy chain. However, the C-terminal lysine (Lys447) of the Fc regionmay or may not be present. Unless otherwise specified herein, numberingof amino acid residues in the Fc region or constant region is accordingto the EU numbering system, also called the EU index, as described inKabat, E. A. et al., Sequences of Proteins of Immunological Interest,5th ed., Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda,Md. (1991), NIH Publication 91-3242.

“Framework” or “FR” refers to variable domain residues other thanhypervariable region (HVR) residues. The FR of a variable domaingenerally consists of four FR domains: FR1, FR2, FR3, and FR4.Accordingly, the HVR and FR sequences generally appear in the followingsequence in VH (or VL): FR1-H1(L1)-FR2-H2(L2)-FR3-H3(L3)-FR4.

The terms “full length antibody,” “intact antibody,” and “wholeantibody” are used herein interchangeably to refer to an antibody havinga structure substantially similar to a native antibody structure orhaving heavy chains that contain an Fc region as defined herein.

The terms “host cell,” “host cell line,” and “host cell culture” areused interchangeably and refer to cells into which exogenous nucleicacid has been introduced, including the progeny of such cells. Hostcells include “transformants” and “transformed cells,” which include theprimary transformed cell and progeny derived therefrom without regard tothe number of passages. Progeny may not be completely identical innucleic acid content to a parent cell, but may contain mutations. Mutantprogeny that have the same function or biological activity as screenedor selected for in the originally transformed cell are included herein.

A “human antibody” is one which possesses an amino acid sequence whichcorresponds to that of an antibody produced by a human or a human cellor derived from a non-human source that utilizes human antibodyrepertoires or other human antibody-encoding sequences. This definitionof a human antibody specifically excludes a humanized antibodycomprising non-human antigen-binding residues.

A “human consensus framework” is a framework which represents the mostcommonly occurring amino acid residues in a selection of humanimmunoglobulin VL or VH framework sequences. Generally, the selection ofhuman immunoglobulin VL or VH sequences is from a subgroup of variabledomain sequences. Generally, the subgroup of sequences is a subgroup asin Kabat, E. A. et al., Sequences of Proteins of Immunological Interest,5th ed., Bethesda Md. (1991), NIH Publication 91-3242, Vols. 1-3. In oneembodiment, for the VL, the subgroup is subgroup kappa I as in Kabat etal., supra. In one embodiment, for the VH, the subgroup is subgroup IIIas in Kabat et al., supra.

A “humanized” antibody refers to a chimeric antibody comprising aminoacid residues from non-human HVRs and amino acid residues from humanFRs. In certain embodiments, a humanized antibody will comprisesubstantially all of at least one, and typically two, variable domains,in which all or substantially all of the HVRs (e.g., CDRs) correspond tothose of a non-human antibody, and all or substantially all of the FRscorrespond to those of a human antibody. A humanized antibody optionallymay comprise at least a portion of an antibody constant region derivedfrom a human antibody. A “humanized variant” of an antibody, e.g., anon-human antibody, refers to an antibody that has undergonehumanization. In one preferred embodiment, a murine HVR is grafted intothe framework region of a human antibody to prepare the “humanizedantibody.” See e.g. Riechmann, L., et al., Nature 332 (1988) 323-327;and Neuberger, M. S., et al., Nature 314 (1985) 268-270. The murinevariable region amino acid sequence is aligned to a collection of humangermline antibody V-genes, and sorted according to sequence identity andhomology. The acceptor sequence is selected based on high overallsequence homology and optionally also the presence of the rightcanonical residues already in the acceptor sequence (see Poul, M-A. andLefranc, M-P., in “Ingénierie des anticorps banques combinatores” ed. byLefranc, M-P. and Lefranc, G., Les Editions INSERM, 1997). The germlineV-gene encodes only the region up to the beginning of HVR3 for the heavychain, and till the middle of HVR3 of the light chain. Therefore, thegenes of the germline V-genes are not aligned over the whole V-domain.The humanized construct comprises the human frameworks 1 to 3, themurine HVRs, and the human framework 4 sequence derived from the humanJK4, and the JH4 sequences for light and heavy chain, respectively.Before selecting one particular acceptor sequence, the so-calledcanonical loop structures of the donor antibody can be determined (seeMorea, V., et al., Methods, Vol 20, Issue 3 (2000) 267-279). Thesecanonical loop structures are determined by the type of residues presentat the so-called canonical positions. These positions lie (partially)outside of the HVR regions, and should be kept functionally equivalentin the final construct in order to retain the HVR conformation of theparental (donor) antibody. In WO 2004/006955 a method for humanizingantibodies is reported that comprises the steps of identifying thecanonical HVR structure types of the HVRs in a non-human matureantibody; obtaining a library of peptide sequence for human antibodyvariable regions; determining the canonical HVR structure types of thevariable regions in the library; and selecting the human sequences inwhich the canonical HVR structure is the same as the non-human antibodycanonical HVR structure type at corresponding locations within thenon-human and human variable regions. Summarizing, the potentialacceptor sequence is selected based on high overall homology andoptionally in addition the presence of the right canonical residuesalready in the acceptor sequence. In some cases simple HVR grafting onlyresult in partial retention of the binding specificity of the non-humanantibody. It has been found that at least some specific non-humanframework residues are required for reconstituting the bindingspecificity and have also to be grafted into the human framework, i.e.so called “back mutations” have to be made in addition to theintroduction of the non-human HVRs (see e.g. Queen et al., Proc. Natl.Acad. Sci. USA 86 (1989) 10,029-10,033; Co et al., Nature 351 (1991)501-502). These specific framework amino acid residues participate inFR-HVR interactions and stabilized the conformation (loop) of the HVRs(see e.g. Kabat et al., J. Immunol. 147 (1991) 1709). In some cases alsoforward-mutations are introduced in order to adopt more closely thehuman germline sequence. Thus “humanized variant of an antibodyaccording to the invention” (which is e.g. of mouse origin) refers to anantibody, which is based on the mouse antibody sequences in which the VHand VL are humanized by above described standard techniques (includingHVR grafting and optionally subsequent mutagenesis of certain aminoacids in the framework region and the HVR-H1, HVR-H2, HVR-L1 or HVR-L2,whereas HVR-H3 and HVR-L3 remain unmodified).

The term “hypervariable region” or “HVR” as used herein refers to eachof the regions of an antibody variable domain which are hypervariable insequence (“complementarity determining regions” or “CDRs”) and/or formstructurally defined loops (“hypervariable loops”) and/or contain theantigen-contacting residues (“antigen contacts”). Generally, antibodiescomprise six HVRs: three in the VH (H1, H2, H3), and three in the VL(L1, L2, L3). Exemplary HVRs herein include:

(a) hypervariable loops occurring at amino acid residues 26-32 (L1),50-52 (L2), 91-96 (L3), 26-32 (H1), 53-55 (H2), and 96-101 (H3) (Chothiaand Lesk, J. Mol. Biol. 196:901-917 (1987));

(b) CDRs occurring at amino acid residues 24-34 (L1), 50-56 (L2), 89-97(L3), 31-35b (H1), 50-65 (H2), and 95-102 (H3) (Kabat et al., Sequencesof Proteins of Immunological Interest, 5th Ed. Public Health Service,National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md. (1991));

(c) antigen contacts occurring at amino acid residues 27c-36 (L1), 46-55(L2), 89-96 (L3), 30-35b (H1), 47-58 (H2), and 93-101 (H3) (MacCallum etal. J. Mol. Biol. 262: 732-745 (1996)); and

(d) combinations of (a), (b), and/or (c), including HVR amino acidresidues 46-56 (L2), 47-56 (L2), 48-56 (L2), 49-56 (L2), 26-35 (H1),26-35b (H1), 49-65 (H2), 93-102 (H3), and 94-102 (H3).

Unless otherwise indicated, HVR residues and other residues in thevariable domain (e.g., FR residues) are numbered herein according toKabat et al., supra.

Preferably the HVRs refer to CDRs occurring at amino acid residues 24-34(L1), 50-56 (L2), 89-97 (L3), 31-35b (H1), 50-65 (H2), and 95-102 (H3)(Kabat et al., Sequences of Proteins of Immunological Interest, 5th Ed.Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.(1991)), i.e. the HVRs are determined according to Kabat.

An “immunoconjugate” is an antibody conjugated to one or moreheterologous molecule(s), including but not limited to a cytotoxicagent.

An “individual” or “subject” is a mammal. Mammals include, but are notlimited to, domesticated animals (e.g., cows, sheep, cats, dogs, andhorses), primates (e.g., humans and non-human primates such as monkeys),rabbits, and rodents (e.g., mice and rats). In certain embodiments, theindividual or subject is a human.

An “isolated” antibody is one which has been separated from a componentof its natural environment. In some embodiments, an antibody is purifiedto greater than 95% or 99% purity as determined by, for example,electrophoretic (e.g., SDS-PAGE, isoelectric focusing (IEF), capillaryelectrophoresis) or chromatographic (e.g., ion exchange or reverse phaseHPLC). For review of methods for assessment of antibody purity, see,e.g., Flatman, S. et al., J. Chromatogr. B 848 (2007) 79-87.

An “isolated” nucleic acid refers to a nucleic acid molecule that hasbeen separated from a component of its natural environment. An isolatednucleic acid includes a nucleic acid molecule contained in cells thatordinarily contain the nucleic acid molecule, but the nucleic acidmolecule is present extrachromosomally or at a chromosomal location thatis different from its natural chromosomal location.

“Isolated nucleic acid encoding an anti-HER1 antibody” refers to one ormore nucleic acid molecules encoding antibody heavy and light chains (orfragments thereof), including such nucleic acid molecule(s) in a singlevector or separate vectors, and such nucleic acid molecule(s) present atone or more locations in a host cell.

The term “monoclonal antibody” as used herein refers to an antibodyobtained from a population of substantially homogeneous antibodies,i.e., the individual antibodies comprising the population are identicaland/or bind the same epitope, except for possible variant antibodies,e.g., containing naturally occurring mutations or arising duringproduction of a monoclonal antibody preparation, such variants generallybeing present in minor amounts. In contrast to polyclonal antibodypreparations, which typically include different antibodies directedagainst different determinants (epitopes), each monoclonal antibody of amonoclonal antibody preparation is directed against a single determinanton an antigen. Thus, the modifier “monoclonal” indicates the characterof the antibody as being obtained from a substantially homogeneouspopulation of antibodies, and is not to be construed as requiringproduction of the antibody by any particular method. For example, themonoclonal antibodies to be used in accordance with the presentinvention may be made by a variety of techniques, including but notlimited to the hybridoma method, recombinant DNA methods, phage-displaymethods, and methods utilizing transgenic animals containing all or partof the human immunoglobulin loci, such methods and other exemplarymethods for making monoclonal antibodies being described herein.

The term “Mab” refers to monoclonal antibodies, whereas the term “hMab”refers to humanized variants of such monoclonal antibodies.

A “naked antibody” refers to an antibody that is not conjugated to aheterologous moiety (e.g., a cytotoxic moiety) or radiolabel. The nakedantibody may be present in a pharmaceutical formulation. (Include ifPrior art has immunoconjugates).

“Native antibodies” refer to naturally occurring immunoglobulinmolecules with varying structures. For example, native IgG antibodiesare heterotetrameric glycoproteins of about 150,000 daltons, composed oftwo identical light chains and two identical heavy chains that aredisulfide-bonded. From N- to C-terminus, each heavy chain has a variableregion (VH), also called a variable heavy domain or a heavy chainvariable domain, followed by three constant domains (CH1, CH2, and CH3).Similarly, from N- to C-terminus, each light chain has a variable region(VL), also called a variable light domain or a light chain variabledomain, followed by a constant light (CL) domain. The light chain of anantibody may be assigned to one of two types, called kappa (κ) andlambda (λ), based on the amino acid sequence of its constant domain.

The term “package insert” is used to refer to instructions customarilyincluded in commercial packages of therapeutic products, that containinformation about the indications, usage, dosage, administration,combination therapy, contraindications and/or warnings concerning theuse of such therapeutic products.

“Percent (%) amino acid sequence identity” with respect to a referencepolypeptide sequence is defined as the percentage of amino acid residuesin a candidate sequence that are identical with the amino acid residuesin the reference polypeptide sequence, after aligning the sequences andintroducing gaps, if necessary, to achieve the maximum percent sequenceidentity, and not considering any conservative substitutions as part ofthe sequence identity. Alignment for purposes of determining percentamino acid sequence identity can be achieved in various ways that arewithin the skill in the art, for instance, using publicly availablecomputer software such as BLAST, BLAST-2, ALIGN or Megalign (DNASTAR)software. Those skilled in the art can determine appropriate parametersfor aligning sequences, including any algorithms needed to achievemaximal alignment over the full length of the sequences being compared.For purposes herein, however, % amino acid sequence identity values aregenerated using the sequence comparison computer program ALIGN-2. TheALIGN-2 sequence comparison computer program was authored by Genentech,Inc., and the source code has been filed with user documentation in theU.S. Copyright Office, Washington D.C., 20559, where it is registeredunder U.S. Copyright Registration No. TXU510087. The ALIGN-2 program ispublicly available from Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, Calif., ormay be compiled from the source code. The ALIGN-2 program should becompiled for use on a UNIX operating system, including digital UNIXV4.0D. All sequence comparison parameters are set by the ALIGN-2 programand do not vary.

In situations where ALIGN-2 is employed for amino acid sequencecomparisons, the % amino acid sequence identity of a given amino acidsequence A to, with, or against a given amino acid sequence B (which canalternatively be phrased as a given amino acid sequence A that has orcomprises a certain % amino acid sequence identity to, with, or againsta given amino acid sequence B) is calculated as follows:

100 times the fraction X/Y

where X is the number of amino acid residues scored as identical matchesby the sequence alignment program ALIGN-2 in that program's alignment ofA and B, and where Y is the total number of amino acid residues in B. Itwill be appreciated that where the length of amino acid sequence A isnot equal to the length of amino acid sequence B, the % amino acidsequence identity of A to B will not equal the % amino acid sequenceidentity of B to A. Unless specifically stated otherwise, all % aminoacid sequence identity values used herein are obtained as described inthe immediately preceding paragraph using the ALIGN-2 computer program.

The term “pharmaceutical formulation” refers to a preparation which isin such form as to permit the biological activity of an activeingredient contained therein to be effective, and which contains noadditional components which are unacceptably toxic to a subject to whichthe formulation would be administered.

A “pharmaceutically acceptable carrier” refers to an ingredient in apharmaceutical formulation, other than an active ingredient, which isnontoxic to a subject. A pharmaceutically acceptable carrier includes,but is not limited to, a buffer, excipient, stabilizer, or preservative.

The term “HER1,” as used herein, refers to any native HER1 from anyvertebrate source, including mammals such as primates (e.g. humans) androdents (e.g., mice and rats), unless otherwise indicated. The termencompasses “full-length,” unprocessed HER1 as well as any form of HER1that results from processing in the cell. The term also encompassesnaturally occurring variants of HER1, e.g., splice variants or allelicvariants. The amino acid sequence of an exemplary human HER1 is shown inSEQ ID NO:2. “Human HER1 ((also known as epidermal growth factorreceptor EGFR or Erb-B1,) is a 170 kDa transmembrane receptor encoded bythe c-erbB proto-oncogene, and exhibits intrinsic tyrosine kinaseactivity (Modjtahedi, H., et al., Br. J. Cancer 73 (1996) 228-235;Herbst, R. S., and Shin, D. M., Cancer 94 (2002) 1593-1611). SwissProtdatabase entry P00533 provides the sequence of HER1 (SEQ ID NO: 2).There are also isoforms and variants of HER1 (e.g., alternative RNAtranscripts, truncated versions, polymorphisms, etc.) including but notlimited to those identified by Swissprot database entry numbersP00533-1, P00533-2, P00533-3, and P00533-4. HER1 is known to bindligands including α), epidermal growth factor (EGF) (SEQ ID NO: 4),transforming growth factor-α (TGF), amphiregulin, heparin-binding EGF(hb-EGF), betacellulin, and epiregulin (Herbst, R. S., and Shin, D. M.,Cancer 94 (2002) 1593-1611; Mendelsohn, J., and Baselga, J., Oncogene 19(2000) 6550-6565). HER1 regulates numerous cellular processes viatyrosine-kinase mediated signal transduction pathways, including, butnot limited to, activation of signal transduction pathways that controlcell proliferation, differentiation, cell survival, apoptosis,angiogenesis, mitogenesis, and metastasis (Atalay, G., et al., Ann.Oncology 14 (2003) 1346-1363; Tsao, A. S., and Herbst, R. S., Signal 4(2003) 4-9; Herbst, R. S., and Shin, D. M., Cancer 94 (2002) 1593-1611;Modjtahedi, H., et al., Br. J. Cancer 73 (1996) 228-235). The term“epidermal growth factor” (EGF) as used herein refers to human epidermalgrowth factor (EGF, hEGF) (SEQ ID NO: 4).

Interestingly in its equilibrium state, the HER1 receptors exists in its“closed confirmation”, which does mean, the dimerization HER1beta-hairpin motive is tethered via non-covalent interactions to theHER1 ECD domain IV (see FIG. 1 and Lemmon, M A, “Ligand-induced ErbBreceptor dimerization” Exp Cell Res. Feb. 15, 2009; 315(4): 638-648, thewhole article). It is supposed, that the “closed” HER1 conformation canbe opened via the binding of the ligand EGF (SEQ ID NO: 4) at a specificHER1 EGF binding site. This takes place at the HER1 interface formed bythe HER1 ECD domains I and domain III. By this interaction it isbelieved, that the HER1 receptor is activated and transferred into its“open conformation” (see FIG. 1). In this open conformationhomodimerization with another HER1 molecule or heterodimerization withanother member of the HER family and signal induction (Lemmon, M A, ExpCell Res. Feb. 15, 2009; 315(4): 638-648).

As used herein, “treatment” (and grammatical variations thereof such as“treat” or “treating”) refers to clinical intervention in an attempt toalter the natural course of the individual being treated, and can beperformed either for prophylaxis or during the course of clinicalpathology. Desirable effects of treatment include, but are not limitedto, preventing occurrence or recurrence of disease, alleviation ofsymptoms, diminishment of any direct or indirect pathologicalconsequences of the disease, preventing metastasis, decreasing the rateof disease progression, amelioration or palliation of the disease state,and remission or improved prognosis. In some embodiments, antibodies ofthe invention are used to delay development of a disease or to slow theprogression of a disease.

The term “variable region” or “variable domain” refers to the domain ofan antibody heavy or light chain that is involved in binding theantibody to antigen. The variable domains of the heavy chain and lightchain (VH and VL, respectively) of a native antibody generally havesimilar structures, with each domain comprising four conserved frameworkregions (FRs) and three hypervariable regions (HVRs). (See, e.g., Kindt,T. J. et al. Kuby Immunology, 6th ed., W.H. Freeman and Co., N.Y.(2007), page 91) A single VH or VL domain may be sufficient to conferantigen-binding specificity. Furthermore, antibodies that bind aparticular antigen may be isolated using a VH or VL domain from anantibody that binds the antigen to screen a library of complementary VLor VH domains, respectively. See, e.g., Portolano, S. et al., J.Immunol. 150 (1993) 880-887; Clackson, T. et al., Nature 352 (1991)624-628).

The term “vector,” as used herein, refers to a nucleic acid moleculecapable of propagating another nucleic acid to which it is linked. Theterm includes the vector as a self-replicating nucleic acid structure aswell as the vector incorporated into the genome of a host cell intowhich it has been introduced. Certain vectors are capable of directingthe expression of nucleic acids to which they are operatively linked.Such vectors are referred to herein as “expression vectors”.

II. Compositions and Methods

In one aspect, the invention is based, in part, on the finding thatusing the beta-hairpins of HER1 functionally presented in a3-dimensional orientation within SlyD scaffolds (see e.g FIG. 2, and thepolypeptides of SEQ ID NOs. 12 to 16, and 18) it was possible to selectantibodies which are specific for the beta-hairpin of HER1 (and do notcrossreact of HER2, HER3 and/or HER4).

In certain embodiments, the invention provides an antibody that binds tohuman HER1, wherein the antibody binds within an amino acid sequence ofPPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ ID NO:1) of human HER1.

Antibodies of the invention are useful, e.g., for the diagnosis ortreatment of cancer.

A. Exemplary Anti-HER1 Antigen Binding Proteins and Antibodies

The invention provides an isolated antigen binding protein that binds tohuman HER1, wherein the antigen binding protein binds to a polypeptideselected from the group consisting of:

SEQ ID NO: 12 TtSlyDcas-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 14 TtSlyD(GSG)-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 15 TtSlyD(CC)-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 16 TtSlyD(SS)-HER1, and SEQ ID NO: 18 TgSlyDcys-HER1.

The invention further provides an isolated antigen binding protein thatbinds to human HER1, wherein the antigen binding protein binds within anamino acid sequence of PPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ ID NO:1) which iscomprised in a polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:

SEQ ID NO: 12 TtSlyDcas-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 14 TtSlyD(GSG)-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 15 TtSlyD(CC)-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 16 TtSlyD(SS)-HER1, and SEQ ID NO: 18 TgSlyDcys-HER1.

The invention further provides an isolated antigen binding protein thatbinds to human HER1,

a) wherein the antigen binding protein binds to a polypeptide of

SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-Her1.

The invention further provides an isolated antigen binding protein thatbinds to human HER1,

-   -   wherein the antigen binding protein binds to a polypeptide of

SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-Her1

-   -   with an at least 50 times higher ELISA signal (in one preferred        embodiment with an at least 100 times higher ELISA signal; in        another preferred embodiment with an at least 500 times higher        ELISA signal) when compared to the binding to a polypeptide of

SEQ ID NO: 11 TtSlyDcas

-   -   in an ELISA assay, wherein TtSlyDcys-HER1 and TtSlyDcas were        immobilized at a concentration of 0.5 μg/ml.

Preferably the ELISA signal was detected with a Horse radish peroxidase(HRP)-labeled F(ab′)₂ goat anti-mouse Fcγ and2,2′-Azino-di-[3-ethylbenzthiazoline sulfonate (6)] diammonium salt(ABTS) was used as a HRP-substrate.

The invention further provides an isolated antigen binding protein thatbinds to human HER1,

-   a) wherein the antigen binding protein binds within an amino acid    sequence of PPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ ID NO: 1) which is comprised    in a polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 13 (TtSlyDcys-Her1).

The invention provides an isolated antibody that binds to human HER1,

-   a) wherein the antibody binds to a polypeptide selected from the    group consisting of:

SEQ ID NO: 12 TtSlyDcas-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 14 TtSlyD(GSG)-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 15 TtSlyD(CC)-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 16 TtSlyD(SS)-HER1, and SEQ ID NO: 18 TgSlyDcys-HER1.

The invention further provides an isolated antibody that binds to humanHER1,

-   a) wherein the antibody binds within an amino acid sequence of    PPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ ID NO:1) which is comprised in a    polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:

SEQ ID NO: 12 TtSlyDcas-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 14 TtSlyD(GSG)-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 15 TtSlyD(CC)-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 16 TtSlyD(SS)-HER1, and SEQ ID NO: 18 TgSlyDcys-HER1.

The invention further provides an isolated antibody that binds to humanHER1,

a) wherein the antibody binds to a polypeptide of

SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-Her1.

The invention further provides an isolated antibody that binds to humanHER1,

-   a) wherein the antibody binds within an amino acid sequence of    PPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ ID NO:1) which is comprised in a    polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 13 (TtSlyDcys-Her1).

In one aspect, the invention provides an isolated antibody that binds tohuman HER1, wherein the antibody binds within an amino acid sequence ofPPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ ID NO:1) of human HER1.

In certain embodiments, the invention provides an isolated antibody thatbinds to human HER1, wherein the antibody has one or more of thefollowing properties (also each combination of each single property iscontemplated herein):

-   -   a) the antibody binds to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1;        and/or    -   b) the antibody binds to the amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO:1 in        activated HER1; and/or    -   c) the antibody binds within an amino acid sequence of        PPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ ID NO:1) which is comprised in a        polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:

SEQ ID NO: 12 TtSlyDcas-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 14 TtSlyD(GSG)-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 15 TtSlyD(CC)-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 16 TtSlyD(SS)-HER1, and SEQ ID NO: 18 TgSlyDcys-HER1,

-   -   -   and/or

    -   d) binds to the β-hairpin region of HER1; and/or

    -   e) inhibits the heterodimerisation of HER1/HER2 heterodimers;        and/or

    -   f) has no crossreactivity with HER2, HER3 and/or HER4; and/or

    -   g) the antibody binds to a polypeptide with a length of 15 amino        acids comprising the amino acid sequence TYQMDVNPEG (SEQ ID        NO:19); and/or

    -   h) binds to a polypeptide consisting of TYQMDVNPEG (SEQ ID        NO:19); and/or

    -   i) the antibody binds to a polypeptide with a length of 15 amino        acids comprising the amino acid sequence MLYNPTTYQ (SEQ ID        NO:20); and/or

    -   j) binds to a polypeptide consisting of MLYNPTTYQ (SEQ ID        NO:20); and/or

    -   k) does not induce phosphorylation of HER1 in A549 cancer cells        in th absence of EGF (see Example 6); and/or

    -   l) is a non-agonistic antibody with respect to the        phosphorylation of HER1 in the absence of EGF (see Example 6);        and/or

    -   m) shows more than 70 percent internalization of HER1 in the        presence of EGF after 2 h after incubation with the antibody in        a Western Blot assay with HER1 expressing A549 cells and shows        less than 55 percent internalization of HER1 in the absence of        EGF after 2 h after incubation with the antibody in a Western        Blot assay with HER1 expressing A549 cells (see Example 5).

In certain embodiments, the invention provides an isolated antibody thatbinds to human HER1, wherein the antibody the antibody binds to apolypeptide with a length of 15 amino acids comprising the amino acidsequence MLYNPTTYQ (SEQ ID NO:20).

In certain embodiments, the invention provides an isolated antibody thatbinds to human HER1, wherein the antibody the antibody binds to apolypeptide with a length of 15 amino acids comprising the amino acidsequence TYQMDVNPEG (SEQ ID NO:19).

In one aspect, the invention provides an anti-HER1 antibody comprisingall six HVRs selected from the group consisting of:

-   -   i) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14 (DSM ACC3240);    -   ii) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.110.23 (DSM ACC3241);    -   iii) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-37.058.09 (DSM        ACC3238); and    -   iv) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-37.186.15 (DSM ACC3239).    -   Preferably the HVRs are determined according to Kabat.

In one preferred embodiment the invention provides an anti-HER1 antibodycomprising all six HVRs selected from the group consisting of:

-   -   i) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14 (DSM ACC3240);        and    -   ii) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.110.23 (DSM ACC3241).    -   Preferably the HVRs are determined according to Kabat.

In one aspect, the invention provides an anti-HER1 antibody comprisingall six HVRs selected from the group consisting of:

-   -   i) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14 (DSM ACC3240);    -   ii) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.110.23 (DSM ACC3241);    -   iii) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-37.058.09 (DSM        ACC3238); and    -   iv) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-37.186.15 (DSM ACC3239);

wherein the antibody has one or more of the following properties:

-   -   a) the antibody binds to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1;        and/or    -   b) the antibody binds to the amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO:1 in        activated HER1; and/or    -   c) the antibody binds within an amino acid sequence of        PPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ ID NO:1) which is comprised in a        polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:

SEQ ID NO: 12 TtSlyDcas-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 14 TtSlyD(GSG)-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 15 TtSlyD(CC)-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 16 TtSlyD(SS)-HER1, and SEQ ID NO: 18 TgSlyDcys-HER1,

-   -   -   and/or

    -   d) binds to the β-hairpin region of HER1; and/or

    -   e) inhibits the heterodimerisation of HER1/HER2 heterodimers;        and/or

    -   f) has no crossreactivity with HER2, HER3 and/or HER4; and/or

    -   g) the antibody binds to a polypeptide with a length of 15 amino        acids comprising the amino acid sequence TYQMDVNPEG (SEQ ID        NO:19); and/or

    -   h) binds to a polypeptide consisting of TYQMDVNPEG (SEQ ID        NO:19); and/or

    -   i) the antibody binds to a polypeptide with a length of 15 amino        acids comprising the amino acid sequence MLYNPTTYQ (SEQ ID        NO:20); and/or

    -   j) binds to a polypeptide consisting of MLYNPTTYQ (SEQ ID        NO:20); and/or

    -   k) does not induce phosphorylation of HER1 in A549 cancer cells        in the absence of EGF (see Example 6); and/or

    -   l) is a non-agonistic antibody with respect to the        phosphorylation of HER1 in the absence of EGF (see Example 6);        and/or

    -   m) shows more than 70 percent internalization of HER1 in the        presence of EGF after 2 h after incubation with the antibody in        a Western Blot assay with HER1 expressing A549 cells and shows        less than 55 percent internalization of HER1 in the absence of        EGF after 2 h after incubation with the antibody in a Western        Blot assay with HER1 expressing A549 cells (see Example 5).

    -   Preferably the HVRs are determined according to Kabat.

In a further aspect, the invention provides an antibody that binds tothe same epitope as an anti-HER1 antibody provided herein. For example,in certain embodiments, an antibody is provided that binds to the sameepitope as an anti-HER1 antibody selected from the group consisting of:

-   -   i) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14 (DSM ACC3240);    -   ii) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.110.23 (DSM ACC3241);    -   iii) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-37.058.09 (DSM        ACC3238); and    -   iv) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-37.186.15 (DSM ACC3239).

In one preferred embodiment an antibody is provided that binds to thesame epitope as anti-HER1 antibody:

-   -   i) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14 (DSM ACC3240);        or    -   ii) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.110.23 (DSM ACC3241).

In a further aspect, the invention provides an antibody that competesfor binding to human HER1 with an anti-HER1 antibody provided herein.For example, in certain embodiments, an antibody is provided thatcompetes for binding to human HER1 with an anti-HER1 antibody selectedfrom the group consisting of:

-   -   i) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14 (DSM ACC3240);    -   ii) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.110.23 (DSM ACC3241);    -   iii) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-37.058.09 (DSM        ACC3238); and    -   iv) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-37.186.15 (DSM ACC3239).

In one preferred embodiment an antibody is provided that competes forbinding to human HER1 with anti-HER1 antibody:

-   -   i) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14 (DSM ACC3240);        and    -   ii) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.110.23 (DSM ACC3241).

In certain embodiments, an antibody is provided that binds to an epitopewithin a fragment of human HER1 consisting of amino acids MLYNPTTYQ (SEQID NO:20).

In certain embodiments, an antibody is provided that binds to an epitopewithin a fragment of human HER1 consisting of amino acids TYQMDVNPEG(SEQ ID NO:19).

In one preferred embodiment the antibody is of IgG1 or IgG4 isotype. Inone preferred embodiment the antibody comprises constant domains ofhuman origin (human constant domains.). Typical human constant regionswithin the meaning of the present invention comprising the respectivehuman constant domains have the amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NO: 21 toSEQ ID NO:26 (which partly comprise amino acid substitutions).

1. Antibody Affinity

In certain embodiments, an antibody provided herein has a dissociationconstant KD of ≤1 μM, ≤100 nM, ≤10 nM, ≤1 nM, ≤0.1 nM, ≤0.01 nM, or≤0.001 nM (e.g. 10⁻⁸ M or less, e.g. from 10⁻⁸ M to 10⁻¹³ M, e.g., from10⁻⁹ M to 10⁻¹³ M).

In one preferred embodiment, KD is measured using surface plasmonresonance assays using a BIACORE®) at 25° C. with immobilized antigenCM5 chips at ˜10 response units (RU). Briefly, carboxymethylated dextranbiosensor chips (CM5, BIACORE, Inc.) are activated withN-ethyl-N′-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC) andN-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) according to the supplier's instructions.Antigen is diluted with 10 mM sodium acetate, pH 4.8, to 5 μg/ml (˜0.2μM) before injection at a flow rate of 5 μl/minute to achieveapproximately 10 response units (RU) of coupled protein. Following theinjection of antigen, 1 M ethanolamine is injected to block unreactedgroups. For kinetics measurements, two-fold serial dilutions of Fab(0.78 nM to 500 nM) are injected in PBS with 0.05% polysorbate 20(TWEEN-20™) surfactant (PBST) at 25° C. at a flow rate of approximately25 μl/min. Association rates (k_(on) or ka) and dissociation rates(k_(off) or kd) are calculated using a simple one-to-one Langmuirbinding model (BIACORE® Evaluation Software version 3.2) bysimultaneously fitting the association and dissociation sensorgrams. Theequilibrium dissociation constant KD is calculated as the ratio kd/ka(k_(off)/k_(on.)) See, e.g., Chen, Y. et al., J. Mol. Biol. 293 (1999)865-881. If the on-rate exceeds 10⁶ M⁻¹ s⁻¹ by the surface plasmonresonance assay above, then the on-rate can be determined by using afluorescent quenching technique that measures the increase or decreasein fluorescence emission intensity (excitation=295 nm; emission=340 nm,16 nm band-pass) at 25° C. of a 20 nM anti-antigen antibody (Fab form)in PBS, pH 7.2, in the presence of increasing concentrations of antigenas measured in a spectrometer, such as a stop-flow equippedspectrophotometer (Aviv Instruments) or a 8000-series SLM-AMINCO™spectrophotometer (ThermoSpectronic) with a stirred cuvette.

2. Antibody Fragments

In certain embodiments, an antibody provided herein is an antibodyfragment. Antibody fragments include, but are not limited to, Fab, Fab′,Fab′-SH, F(ab′)₂, Fv, and scFv fragments, and other fragments describedbelow. For a review of certain antibody fragments, see Hudson, P. J. etal., Nat. Med. 9 (2003) 129-134. For a review of scFv fragments, see,e.g., Plueckthun, A., In; The Pharmacology of Monoclonal Antibodies,Vol. 113, Rosenburg and Moore (eds.), Springer-Verlag, New York (1994),pp. 269-315; see also WO 93/16185; and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,571,894 and5,587,458. For discussion of Fab and F(ab′)₂ fragments comprisingsalvage receptor binding epitope residues and having increased in vivohalf-life, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,869,046.

Diabodies are antibody fragments with two antigen-binding sites that maybe bivalent or bispecific. See, for example, EP 0 404 097; WO1993/01161; Hudson, P. J. et al., Nat. Med. 9 (2003) 129-134; andHolliger, P. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90 (1993) 6444-6448.Triabodies and tetrabodies are also described in Hudson, P. J. et al.,Nat. Med. 9 (20039 129-134).

Single-domain antibodies are antibody fragments comprising all or aportion of the heavy chain variable domain or all or a portion of thelight chain variable domain of an antibody. In certain embodiments, asingle-domain antibody is a human single-domain antibody (Domantis,Inc., Waltham, Mass.; see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,248,516 B1).

Antibody fragments can be made by various techniques, including but notlimited to proteolytic digestion of an intact antibody as well asproduction by recombinant host cells (e.g. E. coli or phage), asdescribed herein.

3. Chimeric and Humanized Antibodies

In certain embodiments, an antibody provided herein is a chimericantibody. Certain chimeric antibodies are described, e.g., in U.S. Pat.No. 4,816,567; and Morrison, S. L. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81(1984) 6851-6855). In one example, a chimeric antibody comprises anon-human variable region (e.g., a variable region derived from a mouse,rat, hamster, rabbit, or non-human primate, such as a monkey) and ahuman constant region. In a further example, a chimeric antibody is a“class switched” antibody in which the class or subclass has beenchanged from that of the parent antibody. Chimeric antibodies includeantigen-binding fragments thereof.

In certain embodiments, a chimeric antibody is a humanized antibody.Typically, a non-human antibody is humanized to reduce immunogenicity tohumans, while retaining the specificity and affinity of the parentalnon-human antibody. Generally, a humanized antibody comprises one ormore variable domains in which HVRs, e.g., CDRs, (or portions thereof)are derived from a non-human antibody, and FRs (or portions thereof) arederived from human antibody sequences. A humanized antibody optionallywill also comprise at least a portion of a human constant region. Insome embodiments, some FR residues in a humanized antibody aresubstituted with corresponding residues from a non-human antibody (e.g.,the antibody from which the HVR residues are derived), e.g., to restoreor improve antibody specificity or affinity.

Humanized antibodies and methods of making them are reviewed, e.g., inAlmagro, J. C. and Fransson, J., Front. Biosci. 13 (2008) 1619-1633, andare further described, e.g., in Riechmann, I. et al., Nature 332 (1988)323-329; Queen, C. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86 (1989)10029-10033; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,821,337, 7,527,791, 6,982,321, and7,087,409; Kashmiri, S. V. et al., Methods 36 (2005) 25-34 (describingSDR (a-CDR) grafting); Padlan, E. A., Mol. Immunol. 28 (1991) 489-498(describing “resurfacing”); Dall'Acqua, W. F. et al., Methods 36 (2005)43-60 (describing “FR shuffling”); and Osbourn, J. et al., Methods 36(2005) 61-68 and Klimka, A. et al., Br. J. Cancer 83 (2000) 252-260(describing the “guided selection” approach to FR shuffling). Morea, V.,et al., Methods, Vol 20, Issue 3 (2000) 267-279) and WO2004/006955(approach via canonical structures).

4. Human Antibodies

In certain embodiments, an antibody provided herein is a human antibody.Human antibodies can be produced using various techniques known in theart. Human antibodies are described generally in van Dijk, M. A. and vande Winkel, J. G., Curr. Opin. Pharmacol. 5 (2001) 368-374 and Lonberg,N., Curr. Opin. Immunol. 20 (2008) 450-459.

Human antibodies may be prepared by administering an immunogen to atransgenic animal that has been modified to produce intact humanantibodies or intact antibodies with human variable regions in responseto antigenic challenge. Such animals typically contain all or a portionof the human immunoglobulin loci, which replace the endogenousimmunoglobulin loci, or which are present extrachromosomally orintegrated randomly into the animal's chromosomes. In such transgenicmice, the endogenous immunoglobulin loci have generally beeninactivated. For review of methods for obtaining human antibodies fromtransgenic animals, see Lonberg, N., Nat. Biotech. 23 (2005) 1117-1125.See also, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,075,181 and 6,150,584 describingXENOMOUSE™ technology; U.S. Pat. No. 5,770,429 describing HuMab®technology; U.S. Pat. No. 7,041,870 describing K-M MOUSE® technology,and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2007/0061900, describingVelociMouse® technology). Human variable regions from intact antibodiesgenerated by such animals may be further modified, e.g., by combiningwith a different human constant region.

Human antibodies can also be made by hybridoma-based methods. Humanmyeloma and mouse-human heteromyeloma cell lines for the production ofhuman monoclonal antibodies have been described. (See, e.g., Kozbor, D.,J. Immunol. 133 (1984) 3001-3005; Brodeur, B. R. et al., MonoclonalAntibody Production Techniques and Applications, Marcel Dekker, Inc.,New York (1987), pp. 51-63; and Boerner, P. et al., J. Immunol. 147(1991) 86-95) Human antibodies generated via human B-cell hybridomatechnology are also described in Li, J. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.USA 103 (2006) 3557-3562. Additional methods include those described,for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,189,826 (describing production ofmonoclonal human IgM antibodies from hybridoma cell lines) and Ni, J.,Xiandai Mianyixue 26 (2006) 265-268 (describing human-human hybridomas).Human hybridoma technology (Trioma technology) is also described inVollmers, H. P. and Brandlein, S., Histology and Histopathology 20(2005) 927-937 and Vollmers, H. P. and Brandlein, S., Methods andFindings in Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology 27 (2005) 185-191.

Human antibodies may also be generated by isolating Fv clone variabledomain sequences selected from human-derived phage display libraries.Such variable domain sequences may then be combined with a desired humanconstant domain. Techniques for selecting human antibodies from antibodylibraries are described below.

5. Library-Derived Antibodies

Antibodies of the invention may be isolated by screening combinatoriallibraries for antibodies with the desired activity or activities. Forexample, a variety of methods are known in the art for generating phagedisplay libraries and screening such libraries for antibodies possessingthe desired binding characteristics. Such methods are reviewed, e.g., inHoogenboom, H. R. et al., Methods in Molecular Biology 178 (2001) 1-37and further described, e.g., in the McCafferty, J. et al., Nature 348(1990) 552-554; Clackson, T. et al., Nature 352 (1991) 624-628; Marks,J. D. et al., J. Mol. Biol. 222 (1992) 581-597; Marks, J. D. andBradbury, A., Methods in Molecular Biology 248 (2003) 161-175; Sidhu, S.S. et al., J. Mol. Biol. 338 (2004) 299-310; Lee, C. V. et al., J. Mol.Biol. 340 (2004) 1073-1093; Fellouse, F. A., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA101 (2004) 12467-12472; and Lee, C. V. et al., J. Immunol. Methods 284(2004) 119-132.

In certain phage display methods, repertoires of VH and VL genes areseparately cloned by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and recombinedrandomly in phage libraries, which can then be screened forantigen-binding phage as described in Winter, G. et al., Ann. Rev.Immunol. 12 (1994) 433-455. Phage typically display antibody fragments,either as single-chain Fv (scFv) fragments or as Fab fragments.Libraries from immunized sources provide high-affinity antibodies to theimmunogen without the requirement of constructing hybridomas.Alternatively, the naive repertoire can be cloned (e.g., from human) toprovide a single source of antibodies to a wide range of non-self andalso self antigens without any immunization as described by Griffiths,A. D. et al., EMBO J. 12 (1993) 725-734. Finally, naive libraries canalso be made synthetically by cloning non-rearranged V-gene segmentsfrom stem cells, and using PCR primers containing random sequence toencode the highly variable CDR3 regions and to accomplish rearrangementin vitro, as described by Hoogenboom, H. R. and Winter, G., J. Mol.Biol. 227 (1992) 381-388. Patent publications describing human antibodyphage libraries include, for example: U.S. Pat. No. 5,750,373, and USPatent Publication Nos. 2005/0079574, 2005/0119455, 2005/0266000,2007/0117126, 2007/0160598, 2007/0237764, 2007/0292936, and2009/0002360.

Antibodies or antibody fragments isolated from human antibody librariesare considered human antibodies or human antibody fragments herein.

6. Multispecific Antibodies

In certain embodiments, an antibody provided herein is a multispecificantibody, e.g. a bispecific antibody. Multispecific antibodies aremonoclonal antibodies that have binding specificities for at least twodifferent sites. In certain embodiments, one of the bindingspecificities is for HER1 and the other is for any other antigen.Bispecific antibodies may also be used to localize cytotoxic agents tocells which express HER1. Bispecific antibodies can be prepared as fulllength antibodies or antibody fragments.

Techniques for making multispecific antibodies include, but are notlimited to, recombinant co-expression of two immunoglobulin heavychain-light chain pairs having different specificities (see Milstein, C.and Cuello, A. C., Nature 305 (1983) 537-540, WO 93/08829, andTraunecker, A. et al., EMBO J. 10 (1991) 3655-3659), and “knob-in-hole”engineering (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,731,168). Multi-specificantibodies may also be made by engineering electrostatic steeringeffects for making antibody Fc-heterodimeric molecules (WO 2009/089004);cross-linking two or more antibodies or fragments (see, e.g., U.S. Pat.No. 4,676,980, and Brennan, M. et al., Science 229 (1985) 81-83); usingleucine zippers to produce bi-specific antibodies (see, e.g., Kostelny,S. A. et al., J. Immunol. 148 (1992) 1547-1553; using “diabody”technology for making bispecific antibody fragments (see, e.g.,Holliger, P. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90 (1993) 6444-6448);and using single-chain Fv (sFv) dimers (see, e.g. Gruber, M et al., J.Immunol. 152 (1994) 5368-5374); and preparing trispecific antibodies asdescribed, e.g., in Tutt, A. et al., J. Immunol. 147 (1991) 60-69).

Engineered antibodies with three or more functional antigen bindingsites, including “Octopus antibodies,” are also included herein (see,e.g. US 2006/0025576).

The antibody or fragment herein also includes a “Dual Acting Fab” or“DAF” comprising an antigen binding site that binds to HER1 as well asanother, different antigen (see, US 2008/0069820, for example).

The antibody or fragment herein also includes multispecific antibodiesdescribed in WO 2009/080251, WO 2009/080252, WO 2009/080253, WO2009/080254, WO 2010/112193, WO 2010/115589, WO 2010/136172, WO2010/145792, and WO 2010/145793.

7. Antibody Variants

In certain embodiments, amino acid sequence variants of the antibodiesprovided herein are contemplated. For example, it may be desirable toimprove the binding affinity and/or other biological properties of theantibody. Amino acid sequence variants of an antibody may be prepared byintroducing appropriate modifications into the nucleotide sequenceencoding the antibody, or by peptide synthesis. Such modificationsinclude, for example, deletions from, and/or insertions into and/orsubstitutions of residues within the amino acid sequences of theantibody. Any combination of deletion, insertion, and substitution canbe made to arrive at the final construct, provided that the finalconstruct possesses the desired characteristics, e.g., antigen-binding.

a) Substitution, Insertion, and Deletion Variants

In certain embodiments, antibody variants having one or more amino acidsubstitutions are provided. Sites of interest for substitutionalmutagenesis include the HVRs and FRs. Conservative substitutions areshown in Table 1 under the heading of “preferred substitutions”. Moresubstantial changes are provided in Table 1 under the heading of“exemplary substitutions,” and as further described below in referenceto amino acid side chain classes. Amino acid substitutions may beintroduced into an antibody of interest and the products screened for adesired activity, e.g., retained/improved antigen binding, decreasedimmunogenicity, or improved ADCC or CDC.

TABLE 1 Original Exemplary Preferred Residue Substitutions SubstitutionsAla (A) Val; Leu; Ile Val Arg (R) Lys; Gln; Asn Lys Asn (N) Gln; His;Asp, Lys; Arg Gln Asp (D) Glu; Asn Glu Cys (C) Ser; Ala Ser Gln (Q) Asn;Glu Asn Glu (E) Asp; Gln Asp Gly (G) Ala Ala His (H) Asn; Gln; Lys; ArgArg Ile (I) Leu; Val; Met; Ala; Phe; Leu Norleucine Leu (L) Norleucine;Ile; Val; Met; Ala; Phe Ile Lys (K) Arg; Gln; Asn Arg Met (M) Leu; Phe;Ile Leu Phe (F) Trp; Leu; Val; Ile; Ala; Tyr Tyr Pro (P) Ala Ala Ser (S)Thr Thr Thr (T) Val; Ser Ser Trp (W) Tyr; Phe Tyr Tyr (Y) Trp; Phe; Thr;Ser Phe Val (V) Ile; Leu; Met; Phe; Ala; Norleucine Leu

Amino acids may be grouped according to common side-chain properties:

-   -   (1) hydrophobic: Norleucine, Met, Ala, Val, Leu, Ile;    -   (2) neutral hydrophilic: Cys, Ser, Thr, Asn, Gln;    -   (3) acidic: Asp, Glu;    -   (4) basic: His, Lys, Arg;    -   (5) residues that influence chain orientation: Gly, Pro;    -   (6) aromatic: Trp, Tyr, Phe.

Non-conservative substitutions will entail exchanging a member of one ofthese classes for another class.

One type of substitutional variant involves substituting one or morehypervariable region residues of a parent antibody (e.g. a humanized orhuman antibody). Generally, the resulting variant(s) selected forfurther study will have modifications (e.g., improvements) in certainbiological properties (e.g., increased affinity, reduced immunogenicity)relative to the parent antibody and/or will have substantially retainedcertain biological properties of the parent antibody. An exemplarysubstitutional variant is an affinity matured antibody, which may beconveniently generated, e.g., using phage display-based affinitymaturation techniques such as those described herein. Briefly, one ormore HVR residues are mutated and the variant antibodies displayed onphage and screened for a particular biological activity (e.g. bindingaffinity).

Alterations (e.g., substitutions) may be made in HVRs, e.g., to improveantibody affinity. Such alterations may be made in HVR “hotspots,” i.e.,residues encoded by codons that undergo mutation at high frequencyduring the somatic maturation process (see, e.g., Chowdhury, P. S.,Methods Mol. Biol. 207 (2008) 179-196), and/or SDRs (a-CDRs), with theresulting variant VH or VL being tested for binding affinity. Affinitymaturation by constructing and reselecting from secondary libraries hasbeen described, e.g., in Hoogenboom, H. R. et al. in Methods inMolecular Biology 178 (2002) 1-37. In some embodiments of affinitymaturation, diversity is introduced into the variable genes chosen formaturation by any of a variety of methods (e.g., error-prone PCR, chainshuffling, or oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis). A secondary libraryis then created. The library is then screened to identify any antibodyvariants with the desired affinity. Another method to introducediversity involves HVR-directed approaches, in which several HVRresidues (e.g., 4-6 residues at a time) are randomized. HVR residuesinvolved in antigen binding may be specifically identified, e.g., usingalanine scanning mutagenesis or modeling. CDR-H3 and CDR-L3 inparticular are often targeted.

In certain embodiments, substitutions, insertions, or deletions mayoccur within one or more HVRs so long as such alterations do notsubstantially reduce the ability of the antibody to bind antigen. Forexample, conservative alterations (e.g., conservative substitutions asprovided herein) that do not substantially reduce binding affinity maybe made in HVRs. Such alterations may be outside of HVR “hotspots” orSDRs. In certain embodiments of the variant VH and VL sequences providedabove, each HVR either is unaltered, or contains no more than one, twoor three amino acid substitutions.

A useful method for identification of residues or regions of an antibodythat may be targeted for mutagenesis is called “alanine scanningmutagenesis” as described by Cunningham, B. C. and Wells, J. A., Science244 (1989) 1081-1085. In this method, a residue or group of targetresidues (e.g., charged residues such as arg, asp, his, lys, and glu)are identified and replaced by a neutral or negatively charged aminoacid (e.g., alanine or polyalanine) to determine whether the interactionof the antibody with antigen is affected. Further substitutions may beintroduced at the amino acid locations demonstrating functionalsensitivity to the initial substitutions. Alternatively, oradditionally, a crystal structure of an antigen-antibody complex toidentify contact points between the antibody and antigen. Such contactresidues and neighboring residues may be targeted or eliminated ascandidates for substitution. Variants may be screened to determinewhether they contain the desired properties.

Amino acid sequence insertions include amino- and/or carboxyl-terminalfusions ranging in length from one residue to polypeptides containing ahundred or more residues, as well as intrasequence insertions of singleor multiple amino acid residues. Examples of terminal insertions includean antibody with an N-terminal methionyl residue. Other insertionalvariants of the antibody molecule include the fusion to the N- orC-terminus of the antibody to an enzyme (e.g. for ADEPT) or apolypeptide which increases the serum half-life of the antibody.

b) Glycosylation Variants

In certain embodiments, an antibody provided herein is altered toincrease or decrease the extent to which the antibody is glycosylated.Addition or deletion of glycosylation sites to an antibody may beconveniently accomplished by altering the amino acid sequence such thatone or more glycosylation sites is created or removed.

Where the antibody comprises an Fc region, the carbohydrate attachedthereto may be altered. Native antibodies produced by mammalian cellstypically comprise a branched, biantennary oligosaccharide that isgenerally attached by an N-linkage to Asn297 of the CH2 domain of the Fcregion. See, e.g., Wright, A. and Morrison, S. L., TIBTECH 15 (1997)26-32. The oligosaccharide may include various carbohydrates, e.g.,mannose, N-acetyl glucosamine (GlcNAc), galactose, and sialic acid, aswell as a fucose attached to a GlcNAc in the “stem” of the biantennaryoligosaccharide structure. In some embodiments, modifications of theoligosaccharide in an antibody of the invention may be made in order tocreate antibody variants with certain improved properties.

In one embodiment, antibody variants are provided having a carbohydratestructure that lacks fucose attached (directly or indirectly) to an Fcregion. For example, the amount of fucose in such antibody may be from1% to 80%, from 1% to 65%, from 5% to 65% or from 20% to 40%. The amountof fucose is determined by calculating the average amount of fucosewithin the sugar chain at Asn297, relative to the sum of allglycostructures attached to Asn 297 (e. g. complex, hybrid and highmannose structures) as measured by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, asdescribed in WO 2008/077546, for example. Asn297 refers to theasparagine residue located at about position 297 in the Fc region (Eunumbering of Fc region residues); however, Asn297 may also be locatedabout ±3 amino acids upstream or downstream of position 297, i.e.,between positions 294 and 300, due to minor sequence variations inantibodies. Such fucosylation variants may have improved ADCC function.See, e.g., US 2003/0157108; US 2004/0093621. Examples of publicationsrelated to “defucosylated” or “fucose-deficient” antibody variantsinclude: US 2003/0157108; WO 2000/61739; WO 2001/29246; US 2003/0115614;US 2002/0164328; US 2004/0093621; US 2004/0132140; US 2004/0110704; US2004/0110282; US 2004/0109865; WO 2003/085119; WO 2003/084570; WO2005/035586; WO 2005/035778; WO 2005/053742; WO 2002/031140; Okazaki, A.et al., J. Mol. Biol. 336 (2004) 1239-1249; Yamane-Ohnuki, N. et al.,Biotech. Bioeng. 87 (2004) 614-622. Examples of cell lines capable ofproducing defucosylated antibodies include Lec13 CHO cells deficient inprotein fucosylation (Ripka, J. et al., Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 249(1986) 533-545; US 2003/0157108; and WO 2004/056312, especially atExample 11), and knockout cell lines, such asalpha-1,6-fucosyltransferase gene, FUT8, knockout CHO cells (see, e.g.,Yamane-Ohnuki, N. et al., Biotech. Bioeng. 87 (2004) 614-622; Kanda, Y.et al., Biotechnol. Bioeng. 94 (2006) 680-688; and WO 2003/085107).

Antibodies variants are further provided with bisected oligosaccharides,e.g., in which a biantennary oligosaccharide attached to the Fc regionof the antibody is bisected by GlcNAc. Such antibody variants may havereduced fucosylation and/or improved ADCC function. Examples of suchantibody variants are described, e.g., in WO 2003/011878; U.S. Pat. No.6,602,684; and US 2005/0123546. Antibody variants with at least onegalactose residue in the oligosaccharide attached to the Fc region arealso provided. Such antibody variants may have improved CDC function.Such antibody variants are described, e.g., in WO 1997/30087; WO1998/58964; and WO 1999/22764.

c) Fc Region Variants

In certain embodiments, one or more amino acid modifications may beintroduced into the Fc region of an antibody provided herein, therebygenerating an Fc region variant. The Fc region variant may comprise ahuman Fc region sequence (e.g., a human IgG1, IgG2, IgG3 or IgG4 Fcregion) comprising an amino acid modification (e.g. a substitution) atone or more amino acid positions.

In certain embodiments, the invention contemplates an antibody variantthat possesses some but not all effector functions, which make it adesirable candidate for applications in which the half-life of theantibody in vivo is important yet certain effector functions (such ascomplement and ADCC) are unnecessary or deleterious. In vitro and/or invivo cytotoxicity assays can be conducted to confirm thereduction/depletion of CDC and/or ADCC activities. For example, Fcreceptor (FcR) binding assays can be conducted to ensure that theantibody lacks FcγR binding (hence likely lacking ADCC activity), butretains FcRn binding ability. The primary cells for mediating ADCC, NKcells, express Fc(RIII only, whereas monocytes express FcgammaRI,FcgammaRII and FcgammaRIII. FcR expression on hematopoietic cells issummarized in Table 3 on page 464 of Ravetch, J. V. and Kinet, J. P.,Annu. Rev. Immunol. 9 (1991) 457-492. Non-limiting examples of in vitroassays to assess ADCC activity of a molecule of interest is described inU.S. Pat. No. 5,500,362 (see, e.g. Hellstrom, I. et al., Proc. Natl.Acad. Sci. USA 83 (1986) 7059-7063; and Hellstrom, I. et al., Proc.Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 82 (1985) 1499-1502); U.S. Pat. No. 5,821,337 (seeBruggemann, M. et al., J. Exp. Med. 166 (1987) 1351-1361).Alternatively, non-radioactive assays methods may be employed (see, forexample, ACTI™ non-radioactive cytotoxicity assay for flow cytometry(CellTechnology, Inc. Mountain View, Calif.; and CytoTox 96®non-radioactive cytotoxicity assay (Promega, Madison, Wis.). Usefuleffector cells for such assays include peripheral blood mononuclearcells (PBMC) and Natural Killer (NK) cells. Alternatively, oradditionally, ADCC activity of the molecule of interest may be assessedin vivo, e.g., in an animal model such as that disclosed in Clynes, R.et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95 (1998) 652-656. C1q binding assaysmay also be carried out to confirm that the antibody is unable to bindC1q and hence lacks CDC activity. See, e.g., C1q and C3c binding ELISAin WO 2006/029879 and WO 2005/100402. To assess complement activation, aCDC assay may be performed (see, for example, Gazzano-Santoro, H. etal., J. Immunol. Methods 202 (1996) 163-171; Cragg, M. S. et al., Blood101 (2003) 1045-1052; and Cragg, M. S. and M. J. Glennie, Blood 103(2004) 2738-2743). FcRn binding and in vivo clearance/half-lifedeterminations can also be performed using methods known in the art(see, e.g., Petkova, S. B. et al., Int. Immunol. 18 (2006: 1759-1769).

Antibodies with reduced effector function include those withsubstitution of one or more of Fc region residues 238, 265, 269, 270,297, 327 and 329 (U.S. Pat. No. 6,737,056). Such Fc mutants include Fcmutants with substitutions at two or more of amino acid positions 265,269, 270, 297 and 327, including the so-called “DANA” Fc mutant withsubstitution of residues 265 and 297 to alanine (U.S. Pat. No.7,332,581).

Certain antibody variants with improved or diminished binding to FcRsare described. (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,737,056; WO 2004/056312, andShields, R. L. et al., J. Biol. Chem. 276 (2001) 6591-6604)

In certain embodiments, an antibody variant comprises an Fc region withone or more amino acid substitutions which improve ADCC, e.g.,substitutions at positions 298, 333, and/or 334 of the Fc region (EUnumbering of residues).

In some embodiments, alterations are made in the Fc region that resultin altered (i.e., either improved or diminished) C1q binding and/orComplement Dependent Cytotoxicity (CDC), e.g., as described in U.S. Pat.No. 6,194,551, WO 99/51642, and Idusogie, E. E. et al., J. Immunol. 164(2000) 4178-4184.

Antibodies with increased half-lives and improved binding to theneonatal Fc receptor (FcRn), which is responsible for the transfer ofmaternal IgGs to the fetus (Guyer, R. L. et al., J. Immunol. 117 (1976)587-593, and Kim, J. K. et al., J. Immunol. 24 (1994) 2429-2434), aredescribed in US 2005/0014934. Those antibodies comprise an Fc regionwith one or more substitutions therein which improve binding of the Fcregion to FcRn. Such Fc variants include those with substitutions at oneor more of Fc region residues: 238, 256, 265, 272, 286, 303, 305, 307,311, 312, 317, 340, 356, 360, 362, 376, 378, 380, 382, 413, 424 or 434,e.g., substitution of Fc region residue 434 (U.S. Pat. No. 7,371,826).

See also Duncan, A. R. and Winter, G., Nature 322 (1988) 738-740; U.S.Pat. No. 5,648,260; U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,821; and WO 94/29351 concerningother examples of Fc region variants.

d) Cysteine Engineered Antibody Variants

In certain embodiments, it may be desirable to create cysteineengineered antibodies, e.g., “thioMAbs,” in which one or more residuesof an antibody are substituted with cysteine residues. In particularembodiments, the substituted residues occur at accessible sites of theantibody. By substituting those residues with cysteine, reactive thiolgroups are thereby positioned at accessible sites of the antibody andmay be used to conjugate the antibody to other moieties, such as drugmoieties or linker-drug moieties, to create an immunoconjugate, asdescribed further herein. In certain embodiments, any one or more of thefollowing residues may be substituted with cysteine: V205 (Kabatnumbering) of the light chain; A118 (EU numbering) of the heavy chain;and S400 (EU numbering) of the heavy chain Fc region. Cysteineengineered antibodies may be generated as described, e.g., in U.S. Pat.No. 7,521,541.

e) Antibody Derivatives

In certain embodiments, an antibody provided herein may be furthermodified to contain additional non-proteinaceous moieties that are knownin the art and readily available. The moieties suitable forderivatization of the antibody include but are not limited to watersoluble polymers. Non-limiting examples of water soluble polymersinclude, but are not limited to, polyethylene glycol (PEG), copolymersof ethylene glycol/propylene glycol, carboxymethylcellulose, dextran,polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, poly-1, 3-dioxolane,poly-1,3,6-trioxane, ethylene/maleic anhydride copolymer, polyaminoacids(either homopolymers or random copolymers), and dextran or poly(n-vinylpyrrolidone)polyethylene glycol, propropylene glycol homopolymers,prolypropylene oxide/ethylene oxide copolymers, polyoxyethylated polyols(e.g., glycerol), polyvinyl alcohol, and mixtures thereof. Polyethyleneglycol propionaldehyde may have advantages in manufacturing due to itsstability in water. The polymer may be of any molecular weight, and maybe branched or unbranched. The number of polymers attached to theantibody may vary, and if more than one polymer is attached, they can bethe same or different molecules. In general, the number and/or type ofpolymers used for derivatization can be determined based onconsiderations including, but not limited to, the particular propertiesor functions of the antibody to be improved, whether the antibodyderivative will be used in a therapy under defined conditions, etc.

In another embodiment, conjugates of an antibody and non-proteinaceousmoiety that may be selectively heated by exposure to radiation areprovided. In one embodiment, the non-proteinaceous moiety is a carbonnanotube (Kam, N. W. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102 (2005)11600-11605). The radiation may be of any wavelength, and includes, butis not limited to, wavelengths that do not harm ordinary cells, butwhich heat the non-proteinaceous moiety to a temperature at which cellsproximal to the antibody-non-proteinaceous moiety are killed.

B. Recombinant Methods and Compositions

Antibodies may be produced using recombinant methods and compositions,e.g., as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,816,567. In one embodiment,isolated nucleic acid encoding an anti-HER1 antibody described herein isprovided. Such nucleic acid may encode an amino acid sequence comprisingthe VL and/or an amino acid sequence comprising the VH of the antibody(e.g., the light and/or heavy chains of the antibody). In a furtherembodiment, one or more vectors (e.g., expression vectors) comprisingsuch nucleic acid are provided. In a further embodiment, a host cellcomprising such nucleic acid is provided. In one such embodiment, a hostcell comprises (e.g., has been transformed with): (1) a vectorcomprising a nucleic acid that encodes an amino acid sequence comprisingthe VL of the antibody and an amino acid sequence comprising the VH ofthe antibody, or (2) a first vector comprising a nucleic acid thatencodes an amino acid sequence comprising the VL of the antibody and asecond vector comprising a nucleic acid that encodes an amino acidsequence comprising the VH of the antibody. In one embodiment, the hostcell is eukaryotic, e.g. a Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell or lymphoidcell (e.g., Y0, NS0, Sp20 cell). In one embodiment, a method of makingan anti-HER1 antibody is provided, wherein the method comprisesculturing a host cell comprising a nucleic acid encoding the antibody,as provided above, under conditions suitable for expression of theantibody, and optionally recovering the antibody from the host cell (orhost cell culture medium).

For recombinant production of an anti-HER1 antibody, nucleic acidencoding an antibody, e.g., as described above, is isolated and insertedinto one or more vectors for further cloning and/or expression in a hostcell. Such nucleic acid may be readily isolated and sequenced usingconventional procedures (e.g., by using oligonucleotide probes that arecapable of binding specifically to genes encoding the heavy and lightchains of the antibody).

Suitable host cells for cloning or expression of antibody-encodingvectors include prokaryotic or eukaryotic cells described herein. Forexample, antibodies may be produced in bacteria, in particular whenglycosylation and Fc effector function are not needed. For expression ofantibody fragments and polypeptides in bacteria, see, e.g., U.S. Pat.No. 5,648,237, U.S. Pat. No. 5,789,199, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,840,523.(See also Charlton, K. A., In: Methods in Molecular Biology, Vol. 248,Lo, B. K. C. (ed.), Humana Press, Totowa, N.J. (2003), pp. 245-254,describing expression of antibody fragments in E. coli.) Afterexpression, the antibody may be isolated from the bacterial cell pastein a soluble fraction and can be further purified.

In addition to prokaryotes, eukaryotic microbes such as filamentousfungi or yeast are suitable cloning or expression hosts forantibody-encoding vectors, including fungi and yeast strains whoseglycosylation pathways have been “humanized,” resulting in theproduction of an antibody with a partially or fully human glycosylationpattern. See Gerngross, T. U., Nat. Biotech. 22 (2004) 1409-1414; andLi, H. et al., Nat. Biotech. 24 (2006) 210-215.

Suitable host cells for the expression of glycosylated antibody are alsoderived from multicellular organisms (invertebrates and vertebrates).Examples of invertebrate cells include plant and insect cells. Numerousbaculoviral strains have been identified which may be used inconjunction with insect cells, particularly for transfection ofSpodoptera frugiperda cells.

Plant cell cultures can also be utilized as hosts. See, e.g., U.S. Pat.Nos. 5,959,177, 6,040,498, 6,420,548, 7,125,978, and 6,417,429(describing PLANTIBODIES™ technology for producing antibodies intransgenic plants).

Vertebrate cells may also be used as hosts. For example, mammalian celllines that are adapted to grow in suspension may be useful. Otherexamples of useful mammalian host cell lines are monkey kidney CV1 linetransformed by SV40 (COS-7); human embryonic kidney line (293 or 293cells as described, e.g., in Graham, F. L. et al., J. Gen Virol. 36(1977) 59-74); baby hamster kidney cells (BHK); mouse sertoli cells (TM4cells as described, e.g., in Mather, J. P., Biol. Reprod. 23 (1980)243-252); monkey kidney cells (CV1); African green monkey kidney cells(VERO-76); human cervical carcinoma cells (HELA); canine kidney cells(MDCK; buffalo rat liver cells (BRL 3A); human lung cells (W138); humanliver cells (Hep G2); mouse mammary tumor (MMT 060562); TRI cells, asdescribed, e.g., in Mather, J. P. et al., Annals N.Y. Acad. Sci. 383(1982) 44-68; MRC 5 cells; and FS4 cells. Other useful mammalian hostcell lines include Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, including DHFR⁻CHO cells (Urlaub, G. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 77 (1980)4216-4220); and myeloma cell lines such as Y0, NS0 and Sp2/0. For areview of certain mammalian host cell lines suitable for antibodyproduction, see, e.g., Yazaki, P. and Wu, A. M., Methods in MolecularBiology, Vol. 248, Lo, B. K. C. (ed.), Humana Press, Totowa, N.J.(2004), pp. 255-268.

C. Assays and Antibody (or Antigen Binding Protein) Selection Methods

Anti-HER1 antibodies provided herein may be identified, screened for, orcharacterized for their physical/chemical properties and/or biologicalactivities by various assays known in the art.

One aspect of the invention is a method for selecting an antibody (orantigen binding protein) that binds to human HER1, wherein the antibody(or antigen binding protein) binds within an amino acid sequence ofPPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ ID NO:1) of human HER1;

wherein

-   -   a) at least one polypeptide selected from the group consisting        of:

SEQ ID NO: 12 TtSlyDcas-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 14 TtSlyD(GSG)-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 15 TtSlyD(CC)-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 16 TtSlyD(SS)-HER1, and SEQ ID NO: 18 TgSlyDcys-HER1,

-   -   which comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1;

is used to select (in a binding assay) antibodies (or antigen bindingproteins), which show binding to the at least one polypeptide under a),

and thereby selecting an antigen binding protein, in particular anantibody that binds within an amino acid sequence ofPPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ ID NO:1) of human HER1.

In one embodiment such selection methods further comprises a stepwherein the selected antibodies are counterscreened with thepolypeptides (tested for binding to the polypeptides) selected from thegroup consisting of:

SEQ ID NO: 11 TtSlyDcas SEQ ID NO: 17 TgSlyDΔIF

to confirm that the selected antibodies do not bind to the polypeptidescaffolds which are not comprising amino acid sequence ofPPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ ID NO:1).

The invention provides an antibody(or antigen binding protein) obtainedby such selection method.

A method for selecting an antibody (or antigen binding protein) thatspecifically binds to a human HER1, comprising the following steps:

a) determining the binding affinity of a plurality of antibodies (orantigen binding proteins) to the β-hairpin of HER1 with the amino acidsequence of SEQ ID NO:1, whereby β-hairpin of HER1 is presented aspolypeptide selected from the group consisting of:

SEQ ID NO: 12 i) TtSlyDcas-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 13 ii) TtSlyDcys-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 14 iii) TtSlyD(GSG)-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 15 iv) TtSlyD(CC)-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 16 v) TtSlyD(SS)-HER1, and SEQ ID NO: 18 vi) TgSlyDcys-HER1,

which comprise the β-hairpin of HER1 with the amino acid sequence of SEQID NO:1,

b) selecting the antibody (or antigen binding protein) having anapparent complex stability above a pre-defined threshold level.

1. Binding Assays and Other Assays

In one aspect, an antibody (or antigen binding protein) of the inventionis tested for its antigen binding activity, e.g., by known methods suchas ELISA, Western blot, including surface plasmon resonance (e.g.BIACORE), etc.

-   In another aspect, competition assays may be used to identify an    antibody that competes with    -   i) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14 (DSM ACC3240);    -   ii) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.110.23 (DSM ACC3241);    -   iii) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-37.058.09 (DSM        ACC3238); or    -   iv) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-37.186.15 (DSM ACC3239);

for binding to HER1.

In certain embodiments, such a competing antibody binds to the sameepitope (e.g., a linear or a conformational epitope) that is bound by

-   -   i) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14 (DSM ACC3240;    -   ii) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.110.23 (DSM ACC3241);    -   iii) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-37.058.09 (DSM        ACC3238); or    -   iv) deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-37.186.15 (DSM ACC3239).

Detailed exemplary methods for mapping an epitope to which an antibodybinds are provided in Morris, G. E. (ed.), Epitope Mapping Protocols,In: Methods in Molecular Biology, Vol. 66, Humana Press, Totowa, N.J.(1996). Further methods are described in detail in Example 4 using theCelluSpot™ technology.

In an exemplary competition assay, immobilized HER1 is incubated in asolution comprising a first labeled antibody that binds to HER1,respectively (e.g. deposited antibodies MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14 (DSMACC3240MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.110.23 (DSM ACC3241); MAK <HER1-DIB>M-37.058.09 (DSM ACC3238); MAK <HER1-DIB> M-37.186.15 (DSM ACC3239)) anda second unlabeled antibody that is being tested for its ability tocompete with the first antibody for binding to HER1. The second antibodymay be present in a hybridoma supernatant. As a control, immobilizedHER1 is incubated in a solution comprising the first labeled antibodybut not the second unlabeled antibody. After incubation under conditionspermissive for binding of the first antibody to HER1, excess unboundantibody is removed, and the amount of label associated with immobilizedHER1 is measured. If the amount of label associated with immobilizedHER1 is substantially reduced in the test sample relative to the controlsample, then that indicates that the second antibody is competing withthe first antibody for binding to HER1. See Harlow, E. and Lane, D.,Antibodies: A Laboratory Manual, Chapter 14, Cold Spring HarborLaboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. (1988).

2. Activity Assays

In one aspect, assays are provided for identifying anti-HER1 antibodies(or antigen binding proteins) thereof having biological activity.Biological activity may include, e.g., inhibition of HER1phosphorylation, non-agonistic activity with respect to HER1phosphorylation in the absence of EGF, inhibition of cancer cellproliferation of HER1 expressing or overexpressing cancer cells,inhibition of HER1/HER1 homodimerization inhibition of HER1/HER2heterodimerization, (time-dependent) internalization via Western Blot orFACS assay, in vivo tumor growth inhibition in xenograft animal (e.g.mouse or rat) models with xenografted HER1 expressing or overexpressingcancer cells. Antibodies having such biological activity either alone oras immunoconjugates with a cytotoxic agent in vivo and/or in vitro arealso provided.

In certain embodiments, an antibody of the invention is tested for suchbiological activity. Exemplary vitro or in vivo assays for specifiedbiological activities are described in Example 2e, and Examples 5, 6 and8.

D. Immunoconjugates

The invention also provides immunoconjugates comprising an anti-HER1antibody (or antigen binding protein) described herein conjugated to oneor more cytotoxic agents, such as chemotherapeutic agents or drugs,growth inhibitory agents, toxins (e.g., protein toxins, enzymaticallyactive toxins of bacterial, fungal, plant, or animal origin, orfragments thereof), or radioactive isotopes.

In one embodiment, an immunoconjugate is an antibody-drug conjugate(ADC) in which an antibody is conjugated to one or more drugs, includingbut not limited to a maytansinoid (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,208,020, U.S.Pat. No. 5,416,064 and EP 0 425 235 B1); an auristatin such asmonomethyl auristatin drug moieties DE and DF (MMAE and MMAF) (see U.S.Pat. No. 5,635,483, U.S. Pat. No. 5,780,588, and U.S. Pat. No.7,498,298); a dolastatin; a calicheamicin or derivative thereof (seeU.S. Pat. No. 5,712,374, U.S. Pat. No. 5,714,586, U.S. Pat. No.5,739,116, U.S. Pat. No. 5,767,285, U.S. Pat. No. 5,770,701, U.S. Pat.No. 5,770,710, U.S. Pat. No. 5,773,001, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,877,296;Hinman, L. M. et al., Cancer Res. 53 (1993) 3336-3342; and Lode, H. N.et al., Cancer Res. 58 (1998) 2925-2928); an anthracycline such asdaunomycin or doxorubicin (see Kratz, F. et al., Curr. Med. Chem. 13(2006) 477-523; Jeffrey, S. C. et al., Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 16(2006) 358-362; Torgov, M. Y. et al., Bioconjug. Chem. 16 (2005)717-721; Nagy, A. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97 (2000) 829-834;Dubowchik, G. M. et al., Bioorg. & Med. Chem. Letters 12 (2002)1529-1532; King, H. D. et al., J. Med. Chem. 45 (20029 4336-4343; andU.S. Pat. No. 6,630,579); methotrexate; vindesine; a taxane such asdocetaxel, paclitaxel, larotaxel, tesetaxel, and ortataxel; atrichothecene; and CC1065.

In another embodiment, an immunoconjugate comprises an antibody asdescribed herein conjugated to an enzymatically active toxin or fragmentthereof, including but not limited to diphtheria A chain, nonbindingactive fragments of diphtheria toxin, exotoxin A chain (from Pseudomonasaeruginosa), ricin A chain, abrin A chain, modeccin A chain,alpha-sarcin, Aleurites fordii proteins, dianthin proteins, Phytolacaamericana proteins (PAPI, PAPII, and PAP-S), momordica charantiainhibitor, curcin, crotin, sapaonaria officinalis inhibitor, gelonin,mitogellin, restrictocin, phenomycin, enomycin, and the tricothecenes.

In another embodiment, an immunoconjugate comprises an antibody asdescribed herein conjugated to a Pseudomonas exotoxin A or variantsthereof. Pseudomonas exotoxin A or variants thereof are described e.g inWO2011/32022, WO2009/32954, WO2007/031741, WO2007/016150, WO2005/052006and Liu W, et al, PNAS 109 (2012) 11782-11787.

In another embodiment, an immunoconjugate comprises an antibody asdescribed herein conjugated to a radioactive atom to form aradioconjugate. A variety of radioactive isotopes are available for theproduction of radioconjugates. Examples include At²¹¹, I¹³¹, I¹²⁵, Y⁹⁰,Re¹⁸⁶, Re¹⁸⁸, Sm¹⁵³, Bi²¹², Pb³², Pb²¹² and radioactive isotopes of Lu.When the radioconjugate is used for detection, it may comprise aradioactive atom for scintigraphic studies, for example TC^(99m) orI¹²³, or a spin label for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging (alsoknown as magnetic resonance imaging, MRI), such as iodine-123 again,iodine-131, indium-111, fluorine-19, carbon-13, nitrogen-15, oxygen-17,gadolinium, manganese or iron.

Conjugates of an antibody and cytotoxic agent may be made a) eitherusing recombination expression techniques (e.g for the expression ofamino acid sequence based toxines fused to a Fab or Fv antibody fragmente.g. in E. coli) or b) using polypeptide coupling techniques (likesortase enzyme based coupling of amino acid sequence based toxines to aFab or Fv antibody fragment) or c) using a variety of bifunctionalprotein coupling agents such as N-succinimidyl-3-(2-pyridyldithio)propionate (SPDP), succinimidyl-4-(N-maleimidomethyl)cyclohexane-1-carboxylate (SMCC), iminothiolane (IT), bifunctionalderivatives of imidoesters (such as dimethyl adipimidate HCl), activeesters (such as disuccinimidyl suberate), aldehydes (such asglutaraldehyde), bis-azido compounds (such as bis (p-azidobenzoyl)hexanediamine), bis-diazonium derivatives (such asbis-(p-diazoniumbenzoyl)-ethylenediamine), diisocyanates (such astoluene 2,6-diisocyanate), and bis-active fluorine compounds (such as1,5-difluoro-2,4-dinitrobenzene). For example, a ricin immunotoxin canbe prepared as described in Vitetta, E. S. et al., Science 238 (1987)1098-1104. Carbon-14-labeled 1-isothiocyanatobenzyl-3-methyldiethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (MX-DTPA) is an exemplary chelating agent forconjugation of radionucleotide to the antibody. See WO 94/11026. Thelinker may be a “cleavable linker” facilitating release of a cytotoxicdrug in the cell. For example, an acid-labile linker,peptidase-sensitive linker, photolabile linker, dimethyl linker ordisulfide-containing linker (Chari, R. V. et al., Cancer Res. 52 (1992)127-131; U.S. Pat. No. 5,208,020) may be used.

The immunoconjugates or ADCs herein expressly contemplate, but are notlimited to such conjugates prepared with cross-linker reagentsincluding, but not limited to, BMPS, EMCS, GMBS, HBVS, LC-SMCC, MBS,MPBH, SBAP, SIA, SIAB, SMCC, SMPB, SMPH, sulfo-EMCS, sulfo-GMBS,sulfo-KMUS, sulfo-MBS, sulfo-SIAB, sulfo-SMCC, and sulfo-SMPB, and SVSB(succinimidyl-(4-vinylsulfone)benzoate) which are commercially available(e.g., from Pierce Biotechnology, Inc., Rockford, Ill., U.S.A).

E. Methods and Compositions for Diagnostics and Detection

In certain embodiments, any of the anti-HER1 antibodies (or antigenbinding proteins) provided herein is useful for detecting the presenceof HER1, respectively in a biological sample. The term “detecting” asused herein encompasses quantitative or qualitative detection. Incertain embodiments, a biological sample comprises a cell or tissue,such as tumor tissues.

In one embodiment, an anti-HER1 antibody for use in a method ofdiagnosis or detection is provided. In a further aspect, a method ofdetecting the presence of HER1, respectively, in a biological sample isprovided. In certain embodiments, the method comprises contacting thebiological sample with an anti-HER1 antibody as described herein underconditions permissive for binding of the anti-HER1 antibody to HER1,respectively, and detecting whether a complex is formed between theanti-HER1 antibody and HER1, respectively. Such method may be an invitro or in vivo method. In one embodiment, an anti-HER1 antibody isused to select subjects eligible for therapy with an the anti-HER1antibodies antibody, e.g. where HER1, respectively are both biomarkersfor selection of patients.

Exemplary disorders that may be diagnosed using an antibody of theinvention include cancer.

In certain embodiments, labeled anti-HER1 antibodies are provided.Labels include, but are not limited to, labels or moieties that aredetected directly (such as fluorescent, chromophoric, electron-dense,chemiluminescent, and radioactive labels), as well as moieties, such asenzymes or ligands, that are detected indirectly, e.g., through anenzymatic reaction or molecular interaction. Exemplary labels include,but are not limited to, the radioisotopes ³²P, ¹⁴C, ¹²⁵I, ³H, and ¹³¹I,fluorophores such as rare earth chelates or fluorescein and itsderivatives, rhodamine and its derivatives, dansyl, umbelliferone,luceriferases, e.g., firefly luciferase and bacterial luciferase (U.S.Pat. No. 4,737,456), luciferin, 2,3-dihydrophthalazinediones,horseradish peroxidase (HRP), alkaline phosphatase, β-galactosidase,glucoamylase, lysozyme, saccharide oxidases, e.g., glucose oxidase,galactose oxidase, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, heterocyclicoxidases such as uricase and xanthine oxidase, coupled with an enzymethat employs hydrogen peroxide to oxidize a dye precursor such as HRP,lactoperoxidase, or microperoxidase, biotin/avidin, spin labels,bacteriophage labels, stable free radicals, and the like.

F. Pharmaceutical Formulations

Pharmaceutical formulations of an anti-HER1 antibody (or antigen bindingprotein) as described herein are prepared by mixing such antibody havingthe desired degree of purity with one or more optional pharmaceuticallyacceptable carriers (Remington's Pharmaceutical Sciences, 16th edition,Osol, A. (ed.) (1980)), in the form of lyophilized formulations oraqueous solutions. Pharmaceutically acceptable carriers are generallynontoxic to recipients at the dosages and concentrations employed, andinclude, but are not limited to: buffers such as phosphate, citrate, andother organic acids; antioxidants including ascorbic acid andmethionine; preservatives (such as octadecyl dimethylbenzyl ammoniumchloride; hexamethonium chloride; benzalkonium chloride; benzethoniumchloride; phenol, butyl or benzyl alcohol; alkyl parabens such as methylor propyl paraben; catechol; resorcinol; cyclohexanol; 3-pentanol; andm-cresol); low molecular weight (less than about 10 residues)polypeptides; proteins, such as serum albumin, gelatin, orimmunoglobulins; hydrophilic polymers such as poly(vinylpyrrolidone);amino acids such as glycine, glutamine, asparagine, histidine, arginine,or lysine; monosaccharides, disaccharides, and other carbohydratesincluding glucose, mannose, or dextrins; chelating agents such as EDTA;sugars such as sucrose, mannitol, trehalose or sorbitol; salt-formingcounter-ions such as sodium; metal complexes (e.g. Zn-proteincomplexes); and/or non-ionic surfactants such as polyethylene glycol(PEG). Exemplary pharmaceutically acceptable carriers herein furtherinclude interstitial drug dispersion agents such as solubleneutral-active hyaluronidase glycoproteins (sHASEGP), for example, humansoluble PH-20 hyaluronidase glycoproteins, such as rhuPH20 (HYLENEX®,Baxter International, Inc.). Certain exemplary sHASEGPs and methods ofuse, including rhuPH20, are described in US Patent Publication Nos.2005/0260186 and 2006/0104968. In one aspect, a sHASEGP is combined withone or more additional glycosaminoglycanases such as chondroitinases.

Exemplary lyophilized antibody formulations are described in U.S. Pat.No. 6,267,958. Aqueous antibody formulations include those described inU.S. Pat. No. 6,171,586 and WO 2006/044908, the latter formulationsincluding a histidine-acetate buffer.

The formulation herein may also contain more than one active ingredientsas necessary for the particular indication being treated.

Active ingredients may be entrapped in microcapsules prepared, forexample, by coacervation techniques or by interfacial polymerization,for example, hydroxymethylcellulose or gelatin-microcapsules andpoly-(methyl methacrylate) microcapsules, respectively, in colloidaldrug delivery systems (for example, liposomes, albumin microspheres,microemulsions, nano-particles and nanocapsules) or in macroemulsions.Such techniques are disclosed in Remington's Pharmaceutical Sciences,16th edition, Osol, A. (ed.) (1980).

Sustained-release preparations may be prepared. Suitable examples ofsustained-release preparations include semi-permeable matrices of solidhydrophobic polymers containing the antibody, which matrices are in theform of shaped articles, e.g. films, or microcapsules.

The formulations to be used for in vivo administration are generallysterile. Sterility may be readily accomplished, e.g., by filtrationthrough sterile filtration membranes.

G. Therapeutic Methods and Compositions

Any of the anti-HER1 antibodies (or antigen binding proteins) orimmunoconjugates of the anti-HER1 antibodies (or antigen bindingprotein) conjugated to a cytotoxic agent, provided herein may be used intherapeutic methods.

In one aspect, an anti-HER1 antibody or immunoconjugate of the anti-HER1antibody conjugated to a cytotoxic agent for use as a medicament isprovided. In further aspects, an anti-HER1 antibody or immunoconjugateof the anti-HER1 antibody conjugated to a cytotoxic agent for use intreating cancer is provided. In certain embodiments, an anti-HER1antibody or immunoconjugates of the anti-HER1 antibody conjugated to acytotoxic agent for use in a method of treatment is provided. In certainembodiments, the invention provides an anti-HER1 antibody orimmunoconjugate of the anti-HER1 antibody conjugated to a cytotoxicagent for use in a method of treating an individual having cancercomprising administering to the individual an effective amount of theanti-HER1 antibody or the immunoconjugate of the anti-HER1 antibodyconjugated to a cytotoxic agent. In further embodiments, the inventionprovides an anti-HER1 antibody or immunoconjugate of the anti-HER1antibody conjugated to a cytotoxic agent for use in inducing apoptosisin a cancer cell/or inhibiting cancer cell proliferation. In certainembodiments, the invention provides an anti-HER1 antibody orimmunoconjugate of the anti-HER1 antibody conjugated to a cytotoxicagent for use in a method of inducing apoptosis in a cancer cell/orinhibiting cancer cell proliferation in an individual comprisingadministering to the individual an effective of the anti-HER1 antibodyor immunoconjugate of the anti-HER1 antibodies conjugated to a cytotoxicagent to induce apoptosis in a cancer cell/or to inhibit cancer cellproliferation. An “individual” according to any of the above embodimentsis preferably a human.

In a further aspect, the invention provides for the use of an anti-HER1antibody or an immunoconjugate of the anti-HER1 antibody conjugated to acytotoxic agent in the manufacture or preparation of a medicament. Inone embodiment, the medicament is for treatment of cancer. In a furtherembodiment, the medicament is for use in a method of treating cancercomprising administering to an individual having cancer an effectiveamount of the medicament. In a further embodiment, the medicament is forinducing apoptosis in a cancer cell/or inhibiting cancer cellproliferation. In a further embodiment, the medicament is for use in amethod of inducing apoptosis in a cancer cell/or inhibiting cancer cellproliferation in an individual suffering from cancer comprisingadministering to the individual an amount effective of the medicament toinduce apoptosis in a cancer cell/or to inhibit cancer cellproliferation. An “individual” according to any of the above embodimentsmay be a human.

In a further aspect, the invention provides a method for treatingcancer. In one embodiment, the method comprises administering to anindividual having cancer an effective amount of an anti-HER1 antibody.An “individual” according to any of the above embodiments may be ahuman.

In a further aspect, the invention provides a method for inducingapoptosis in a cancer cell/or inhibiting cancer cell proliferation in anindividual suffering from cancer. In one embodiment, the methodcomprises administering to the individual an effective amount of ananti-HER1 antibody or an immunoconjugate of the anti-HER1 antibodyconjugated to a cytotoxic compound to induce apoptosis in a cancercell/or to inhibit cancer cell proliferation in the individual sufferingfrom cancer. In one embodiment, an “individual” is a human.

In a further aspect, the invention provides pharmaceutical formulationscomprising any of the anti-HER1 antibodies provided herein, e.g., foruse in any of the above therapeutic methods. In one embodiment, apharmaceutical formulation comprises any of the anti-HER1 antibodiesprovided herein and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

An antibody of the invention (and any additional therapeutic agent) canbe administered by any suitable means, including parenteral,intrapulmonary, and intranasal, and, if desired for local treatment,intralesional administration. Parenteral infusions includeintramuscular, intravenous, intraarterial, intraperitoneal, orsubcutaneous administration. Dosing can be by any suitable route, e.g.by injections, such as intravenous or subcutaneous injections, dependingin part on whether the administration is brief or chronic. Variousdosing schedules including but not limited to single or multipleadministrations over various time-points, bolus administration, andpulse infusion are contemplated herein.

Antibodies of the invention would be formulated, dosed, and administeredin a fashion consistent with good medical practice. Factors forconsideration in this context include the particular disorder beingtreated, the particular mammal being treated, the clinical condition ofthe individual patient, the cause of the disorder, the site of deliveryof the agent, the method of administration, the scheduling ofadministration, and other factors known to medical practitioners. Theantibody need not be, but is optionally formulated with one or moreagents currently used to prevent or treat the disorder in question. Theeffective amount of such other agents depends on the amount of antibodypresent in the formulation, the type of disorder or treatment, and otherfactors discussed above. These are generally used in the same dosagesand with administration routes as described herein, or about from 1 to99% of the dosages described herein, or in any dosage and by any routethat is empirically/clinically determined to be appropriate.

For the prevention or treatment of disease, the appropriate dosage of anantibody of the invention (when used alone or in combination with one ormore other additional therapeutic agents) will depend on the type ofdisease to be treated, the type of antibody, the severity and course ofthe disease, whether the antibody is administered for preventive ortherapeutic purposes, previous therapy, the patient's clinical historyand response to the antibody, and the discretion of the attendingphysician. The antibody is suitably administered to the patient at onetime or over a series of treatments. Depending on the type and severityof the disease, about 1 μg/kg to 15 mg/kg (e.g. 0.5 mg/kg-10 mg/kg) ofantibody can be an initial candidate dosage for administration to thepatient, whether, for example, by one or more separate administrations,or by continuous infusion. One typical daily dosage might range fromabout 1 μg/kg to 100 mg/kg or more, depending on the factors mentionedabove. For repeated administrations over several days or longer,depending on the condition, the treatment would generally be sustaineduntil a desired suppression of disease symptoms occurs. One exemplarydosage of the antibody would be in the range from about 0.05 mg/kg toabout 10 mg/kg. Thus, one or more doses of about 0.5 mg/kg, 2.0 mg/kg,4.0 mg/kg or 10 mg/kg (or any combination thereof) may be administeredto the patient. Such doses may be administered intermittently, e.g.every week or every three weeks (e.g. such that the patient receivesfrom about two to about twenty, or e.g. about six doses of theantibody). An initial higher loading dose, followed by one or more lowerdoses may be administered. An exemplary dosing regimen comprisesadministering an initial loading dose of about 4 mg/kg, followed by aweekly maintenance dose of about 2 mg/kg of the antibody. However, otherdosage regimens may be useful. The progress of this therapy is easilymonitored by conventional techniques and assays.

It is understood that any of the above formulations or therapeuticmethods may be carried out using an immunoconjugate of the invention inplace of or in addition to an anti-HER1 antibody.

III. Articles of Manufacture

In another aspect of the invention, an article of manufacture containingmaterials useful for the treatment, prevention and/or diagnosis of thedisorders described above is provided. The article of manufacturecomprises a container and a label or package insert on or associatedwith the container. Suitable containers include, for example, bottles,vials, syringes, IV solution bags, etc. The containers may be formedfrom a variety of materials such as glass or plastic. The containerholds a composition which is by itself or combined with anothercomposition effective for treating, preventing and/or diagnosing thecondition and may have a sterile access port (for example the containermay be an intravenous solution bag or a vial having a stopper pierceableby a hypodermic injection needle). At least one active agent in thecomposition is an antibody of the invention. The label or package insertindicates that the composition is used for treating the condition ofchoice. Moreover, the article of manufacture may comprise (a) a firstcontainer with a composition contained therein, wherein the compositioncomprises an antibody of the invention; and (b) a second container witha composition contained therein, wherein the composition comprises afurther cytotoxic or otherwise therapeutic agent. The article ofmanufacture in this embodiment of the invention may further comprise apackage insert indicating that the compositions can be used to treat aparticular condition. Alternatively, or additionally, the article ofmanufacture may further comprise a second (or third) containercomprising a pharmaceutically-acceptable buffer, such as bacteriostaticwater for injection (BWFI), phosphate-buffered saline, Ringer's solutionand dextrose solution. It may further include other materials desirablefrom a commercial and user standpoint, including other buffers,diluents, filters, needles, and syringes.

It is understood that any of the above articles of manufacture mayinclude an immunoconjugate of the invention in place of or in additionto an anti-HER1 antibody.

Description of the Amino Acid Sequences

-   SEQ ID NO: 1 β-Hairpin of human HER1-   SEQ ID NO: 2 human HER1-   SEQ ID NO: 3 human HER1 Extracellular Domain (ECD)-   SEQ ID NO: 4 human EGF-   SEQ ID NO: 5 human HER2-   SEQ ID NO: 6 human HER2 Extracellular Domain (ECD)-   SEQ ID NO: 7 human HER3-   SEQ ID NO: 8 human HER3 Extracellular Domain (ECD)-   SEQ ID NO: 9 human HER4-   SEQ ID NO: 10 human HER4 Extracellular Domain (ECD)-   SEQ ID NO: 11 TtSlyDcas-   SEQ ID NO: 12 TtSlyDcas-HER1-   SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-HER1-   SEQ ID NO: 14 TtSlyD(GSG)-HER1-   SEQ ID NO: 15 TtSlyD(CC)-HER1-   SEQ ID NO: 16 TtSlyD(SS)-HER1-   SEQ ID NO: 17 TgSlyDΔIF-   SEQ ID NO: 18 TgSlyDcys-HER1-   SEQ ID NO: 19 HER1 binding epitope of HER1 antibody M-47-13-   SEQ ID NO: 20 HER1 binding epitope of HER1 antibodies M-50-14    (deposited MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14) and M-50-23 (deposited MAK    <HER1-DIB> M-50.110.23)-   SEQ ID NO: 21 human kappa light chain constant region-   SEQ ID NO: 22 human lambda light chain constant region-   SEQ ID NO: 23 human heavy chain constant region derived from IgG1-   SEQ ID NO: 24 human heavy chain constant region derived from IgG1    mutated on L234A and L235A-   SEQ ID NO: 25 human heavy chain constant region derived from IgG1    mutated on L234A, L235A and P329G-   SEQ ID NO: 26 human heavy chain constant region derived from IgG4

The following examples and figures are provided to aid the understandingof the present invention, the true scope of which is set forth in theappended claims. It is understood that modifications can be made in theprocedures set forth without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the Following Several Embodiments of the Invention are Listed:

-   1. A method for selecting an antigen binding protein that binds to    human HER1, wherein the antigen binding protein binds within an    amino acid sequence of PPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ ID NO:1) of human    HER1;    -   wherein    -   a) at least one polypeptide selected from the group consisting        of:

SEQ ID NO: 12 TtSlyDcas-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 14 TtSlyD(GSG)-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 15 TtSlyD(CC)-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 16 TtSlyD(SS)-HER1, and SEQ ID NO: 18 TgSlyDcys-HER1,

-   -   -   which comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1;

    -   is used to select antigen binding proteins, which show binding        to the at least one polypeptide under a)

    -   and thereby selecting an antigen binding protein that binds        within an amino acid sequence of PPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ ID        NO:1) of human HER1.

-   2. An antigen binding protein obtained by the selection method of    embodiment 1.

-   3. The method of embodiment 1, or the antigen binding protein of    embodiment 2 wherein the antigen binding protein is an antibody.

-   4. An isolated antigen binding protein that binds to human HER1    -   wherein the antigen binding protein binds to a polypeptide of

SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-Her1

-   -   with an at least 50 times higher ELISA signal when compared to        the binding to a polypeptide of

SEQ ID NO: 11 TtSlyDcas

-   -   in an ELISA assay, wherein TtSlyDcys-HER1 and TtSlyDcas were        immobilized at a concentration of 0.5 μg/ml.

-   5. An isolated antigen binding protein that binds to human HER1,    wherein the antigen binding protein binds within an amino acid    sequence of PPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ ID NO:1) which is comprised in    a polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 13 (TtSlyDcys-Her1).

-   6. The antigen binding protein of embodiments 4 or 5 wherein the    antigen binding protein is an antibody.

-   7. An isolated antigen binding protein or antibody of any one of the    preceding embodiments, wherein the antibody does not induce    phosphorylation of HER1 in A549 cancer cells (ATCC CCL-185) in the    absence of EGF (is a non-agonistic antibody with respect to the    phosphorylation of HER1 in the absence of EGF in A549 cancer cells    (ATCC CCL-185)).

-   8. An isolated antibody of any one of the preceding embodiments,    wherein the antibody    -   shows more than 70 percent internalization of HER1 in the        presence of EGF after 2 h after incubation with the antibody in        a Western Blot assay with HER1 expressing A549 cells (ATCC        CCL-185) and shows less than 55 percent internalization of HER1        in the absence of EGF after 2 h after incubation with the        antibody in a Western Blot assay with HER1 expressing A549        cells.

-   9. An isolated antibody that binds to human HER1, wherein the    antibody binds to a polypeptide with a length of 15 amino acids, the    polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of TYQMDVNPEG (SEQ ID    NO:19).

-   10. An isolated antibody that binds to human HER1, wherein the    antibody binds to a polypeptide with a length of 15 amino acids, the    polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of MLYNPTTYQ (SEQ ID    NO:20).

-   11. The antibody of embodiments 6 to 10, which is a human,    humanized, or chimeric antibody.

-   12. The antibody of embodiments 6 to 10, which is an antibody    fragment that binds human HER1.

-   13. An isolated antibody that binds to human HER1, wherein the    antibody comprises    -   i) (a) HVR-H1; (b) HVR-H2; (c) HVR-H3; (d) HVR-L1; (e) HVR-L2;        and (f) HVR-L3 of deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14        (DSM ACC3240);    -   ii) (a) HVR-H1; (b) HVR-H2; (c) HVR-H3; (d) HVR-L1; (e) HVR-L2;        and (f) HVR-L3 of deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.110.23        (DSM ACC3241);    -   iii) (a) HVR-H1; (b) HVR-H2; (c) HVR-H3; (d) HVR-L1; (e) HVR-L2;        and (f) HVR-L3 of deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-37.058.09        (DSM ACC3238);    -   iv) (a) HVR-H1; (b) HVR-H2; (c) HVR-H3; (d) HVR-L1; (e) HVR-L2;        and (f) HVR-L3 of deposited antibody MAK <HER1-DIB> M-37.186.15        (DSM ACC3239);    -   wherein the all HVRs are determined according to Kabat.

-   14. The antibody of any one of embodiments 6 to 13, which is a full    length IgG1 antibody or IgG4 antibody.

-   15. The antibody of any one of embodiments 6 to 13, which is a Fab    fragment.

-   16. An immunoconjugate comprising the antibody of any one of    embodiments 6 to 13 and a cytotoxic agent.

-   17. A pharmaceutical formulation comprising the antibody of any one    of embodiments 6 to 13, or the immunoconjugate of embodiment 16, and    a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

-   18. The antibody of any one of embodiments 6 to 13, or the    immunoconjugate of embodiment 16, for use as a medicament.

-   19. The antibody of any one of embodiments 6 to 13, or the    immunoconjugate of embodiment 16, for use in treating cancer.

-   20. The antibody of any one of embodiments 6 to 13 for use in    inhibition of HER1/HER2 and/or HER1/HER1 dimerization.

-   21. Use of the antibody of any one of embodiments 6 to 13, or the    immunoconjugate of embodiment 16, in the manufacture of a    medicament.

-   22. The use of embodiment 20, wherein the medicament is for    treatment of cancer.

-   23. The use the antibody of any one of embodiments 6 to 13 in the    manufacture of a medicament, wherein the medicament is for the    inhibition of HER1/HER2 and/or HER1/HER1 dimerization.

-   24. A method of treating an individual having cancer comprising    administering to the individual an effective amount of the antibody    of any one of the preceding embodiments, or an immunoconjugate    comprising the antibody of any one of the preceding embodiments and    a cytotoxic agent.

-   25. A method of inducing apoptosis in a cancer cell in an individual    suffering from cancer comprising administering to the individual an    effective amount of an immunoconjugate comprising the antibody of    any one of the preceding embodiments and a cytotoxic agent, thereby    inducing apoptosis in a cancer cell in the individual.

-   26. Isolated nucleic acid encoding the antibody of any one of    embodiments 6 to 11.

-   27. A host cell comprising the nucleic acid of embodiment 26.

-   28. A method of producing an antibody comprising culturing the host    cell of embodiment 27 so that the antibody is produced.

-   29. A polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:

SEQ ID NO: 12 i) TtSlyDcas-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 13 ii) TtSlyDcys-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 14 iii) TtSlyD(GSG)-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 15 iv) TtSlyD(CC)-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 16 v) TtSlyD(SS)-HER1, and SEQ ID NO: 18 vi) TgSlyDcys-HER1,

-   -   which polypeptide comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID        NO:1.

Deposit of Biological Material

The following biological material has been deposited withLeibniz-Institut Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und ZellkulturenGmbH (DSMZ), Inhoffenstr. 7 B, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany according tothe Budapest treaty.

Antibody Designation (hybridoma cell line) Deposition No. Date ofdeposit MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14 DSM ACC3240 8 May 2014 MAK<HER1-DIB>M-50.110.23 DSM ACC3241 8 May 2014 MAK <HER1-DIB> M-37.058.09DSM ACC3238 8 May 2014 MAK <HER1-DIB> M-37.186.15 DSM ACC3239 8 May 2014

EXAMPLES

Materials & General Methods

Recombinant DNA Techniques

Standard methods were used to manipulate DNA as described in Sambrook,J. et al., Molecular Cloning: A laboratory manual; Cold Spring HarborLaboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., 1989. The molecularbiological reagents were used according to the manufacturer'sinstructions.

Gene Synthesis

Desired gene segments were prepared from oligonucleotides made bychemical synthesis. The 400-1600 bp long gene segments, which wereflanked by singular restriction endonuclease cleavage sites, wereassembled by annealing and ligating oligonucleotides including PCRamplification and subsequently cloned via the indicated restrictionsites e.g. EcoRI/BlpI or BsmI/XhoI into the expression vectors describedbelow. The DNA sequences of the subcloned gene fragments were confirmedby DNA sequencing. Gene synthesis fragments were ordered according togiven specifications at Geneart (Regensburg, Germany).

DNA Sequence Determination

DNA sequences were determined by double strand sequencing performed atSequiserve GmbH (Vaterstetten, Germany).

DNA and Protein Sequence Analysis and Sequence Data Management

Infomax's Vector NT1 Advance suite version 11.5.0 was used for sequencecreation, mapping, analysis, annotation and illustration.

Example 1

Preparation of Antigen and Screening Proteins—Generation of Functionalβ-Hairpin HER1 Constructs for Selecting Antibodies Binding to theβ-Hairpin of HER1

To generate functional β-Hairpin HER1 constructs, the amino acidsequences of the HER1 β-Hairpin HER1, was grafted into a SlyDpolypeptide framework comprising a FKBP domain. In such constructs thegrafted β-Hairpins are freely accessible in contrast to the hiddenstructure in the native unactivated conformation of HER1 (in the absenceof ligand as e.g. EGF) (see FIGS. 1 and 2, where the β-Hairpin of HER1is hidden).

All fused SlyD polypeptides can be purified and refolded by using almostidentical protocols. E. coli BL21 (DE3) cells transformed with theparticular expression plasmid were grown at 37° C. in LB mediumcontaining the respective antibiotic for selective growth (Kanamycin 30μg/ml, or Ampicillin (100 μg/ml)) to an OD600 of 1.5, and cytosolicoverexpression was induced by adding 1 mM isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactoside(IPTG). Three hours after induction, cells were harvested bycentrifugation (20 min at 5,000 g), frozen and stored at −20° C. Forcell lysis, the frozen pellet was resuspended in chilled 50 mM sodiumphosphate buffer (pH 8.0) supplemented with 7 M GdmCl and 5 mMimidazole. Thereafter the suspension was stirred for 2-10 hours on iceto complete cell lysis. After centrifugation (25,000 g, 1 h) andfiltration (cellulose nitrate membrane, 8.0 μm, 1.2 μm, 0.2 μm), thelysate was applied onto a Ni-NTA column equilibrated with the lysisbuffer. In the subsequent washing step the imidazole concentration wasraised to 10 mM (in 50 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 8.0) comprising 7M GdmCl) and 5 mM TCEP was added in order to keep the thiol moieties ina reduced form and to prevent premature disulfide bridging. At least 15to 20 volumes of the reducing washing buffer were applied. Thereafter,the GdmCl solution was replaced by 50 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH8.0) comprising 100 mM NaCl, 10 mM imidazole, and 5 mM TCEP to induceconformational refolding of the matrix-bound SlyD fusion polypeptide. Inorder to avoid reactivation of co-purifying proteases, a proteaseinhibitor cocktail (Complete® EDTA-free, Roche) was added to therefolding buffer. A total of 15 to 20 column volumes of refolding bufferwere applied in an overnight procedure. Thereafter, both TCEP and theComplete® EDTA-free inhibitor cocktail were removed by washing with 10column volumes 50 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 8.0) comprising 100 mMNaCl and 10 mM imidazole. In the last washing step, the imidazoleconcentration was raised to 30 mM (10 column volumes) in order to removetenacious contaminants. The refolded polypeptide was then eluted byapplying 250 mM imidazole in the same buffer. Protein-containingfractions were assessed for purity by Tricine-SDS-PAGE (Schaegger, H.and von Jagow, G., Anal. Biochem. 166 (1987) 368-379). Subsequently, theprotein was subjected to size-exclusion-chromatography (Superdex™HiLoad, Amersham Pharmacia) using potassium phosphate as the buffersystem (50 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0), 100 mM KCl, 0.5 mMEDTA). Finally, the protein-containing fractions were pooled andconcentrated in an Amicon cell (YM10) to a concentration of ˜5 mg/ml.Exemplarily SDS-PAGE analysis of Ni-NTA purification of TtSlyDcas-HER1is shown in FIG. 3 and SEC elution profile of a Ni-NTA purified fractionof Thermus thermophilus SlyDcas-HER1 is shown in FIG. 4. TheTtSlyDcas-HER1 fusion polypeptide could be purified successfully as asoluble and stable polypeptide in its monomeric form. The final yieldwas quantified at 30 mg purified protein from fraction 11 and 12.

TABLE 2 Summary of the amino acid sequences of the developed SlyD-basedepitope scaffolds (which carry the HER1 dimerization domain fragmentHER1 as insert.Thermus thermophilus TtSlyDcas-HER1, TtSlyDcys-RER1, TtSlyD(GSG)-HER1,TtSlyD(CC)-HER1, TtSlyD(SS)-HER 1, Thermococcus gammatoleransTgSlyDcys-HER1 carry the HER1 dimerization domain fragment (B-Hairpin ofHER1) as insert and were used as immunogens and as positive controlsin ELISA screening.TtSlyDcas and TgSlyDΔIF were used as negative controls in the ELISA screening(without the HER1 dimerization domain fragment (β-Hairpin of HER1 as insert).As the epitope scaffolds are expressed in E. coli the N-terminal methionineresidue can be present or not. (Nt = N-terminal; Ct = C-terminal)TtSlyDcas Nt- SEQ ID NO: 11MRSKVGQDKVVTIRYTLQVWEGEVLDQGELSYLHGHRNLIPGLEEALEGREEGEAFQAHVPAEKAYGAGSGSSGKDLDFQVEVVKVREATPEELLHGHAHGGGSRKHHHHHHHH-Ct TtSlyDcas- Nt- HER1MRSKVGQDKVVTIRYTLQVEGEVLDQGELSYLHGHRNLIPGLEEALEGREEGEAFQAHVPAEKAYGAGSSEQ ID NO: 12PPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGKGSSGKDLDFQVEVVKVREATPEELLHGHAHGGGSRKHHHHHHHH-CtTtSlyDcys- Nt- HER1MRSKVGQDKVVTIRYTLQVEGEVLDQGELSYLHGHRNLIPGLEEALEGREEGEAFQAHVPAEKAYGPCGSEQ ID NO: 13PPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGGCGKDLDFQVEVVKVREATPEELLHGHAHGGGSRKHHHHHHHH-CtTtSlyD(GSG)- Nt- HER1MRSKVGQDKVVTIRYTLQVEGEVLDQGELSYLHGHRNLIPGLEEALEGREEGEAFQAHVPAEKAYGSGPSEQ ID NO: 14PLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGKGSGKDLDFQVEVVKVREATPEELLHGHAHGGGSRKHHHHHHHH-CtTtSlyD(CC)- Nt- HER1MRSKVGQDKVVTIRYTLQVEGEVLDQGELSYLHGHRNLIPGLEEALEGREEGEAFQAHVPAEKAYGCPPSEQ ID NO: 15LMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGKCGKDLDFQVEVVKVREATPEELLHGHAHGGGSRKHHHHHHHH-CtTtSlyD(SS)- Nt- HER1MRSKVGQDKVVTIRYTLQVEGEVLDQGELSYLHGHRNLIPGLEEALEGREEGEAFQAHVPAEKAYGSPPSEQ ID NO: 16LMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGKSGKDLDFQVEVVKVREATPEELLHGHAHGGGSRKHHHHHHHH-CtTgSlyDΔIF Nt- SEQ ID NO: 17MKVERGDFVLFNYVGRYENGEVFDTSYESVAREQGIFVEEREYSPIGVTVGAGEIIPGIEEALLGMELGEKKEVVVPPEKGYGATGHPGIIPPHATAIFEIEVVEIKKAGEALEHHHHHHLEHHHHHH-CtTgSlyDcys- Nt- HER1MRGSKVERGDFVLFNYVGRYENGEVFDTSYESVAREQGIFVEEREYSPIGVTVGAGEIIPGIEEALLGMSEQ ID NO: 18ELGEKKEVVVPPEKGYGMPCGPPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGGCAGKTAIFEIEVVEIKKAGEAGGGHHHHHHHH-Ct

Example 2

a) Immunisation and Selection of HER1 Antibodies

For the generation of antibodies against the β-hairpin of HER1, Balb/C,NMRI or SJL mice were immunized with different antigens. As antigens thefollowing proteins were used: full length HER1 ECD, or the epitopescaffold proteins TtSlyDcas-HER1, TtSlyDcys-HER1 and TtSlyD(GSG)-HER1.The TtSlyDcas-HER1 variant represents the first generation epitopescaffold, used for generation of HER1 dimerization domain specificantibodies.

All mice were subjected to 3 immunizations at the time points 0, 6 and10 weeks after start of the immunization campaign. At each time pointeach mouse was immunized with 100 μg endotoxin free immunogen dissolvedin 100 μl PBS. For the first immunization the immunogen was mixed with100 μl CFA. For the second and third immunization the immunogen wasmixed with IFA. The first and the third immunization were applied viathe intraperitoneal route, the second immunization was appliedsubcutaneously. 2 and 3 days prior to the preparation of spleenocyte forantibody development using hybridoma technology, the mice were subjectedto intravenous booster immunizations with 12.5 μg immunogen in 100 μlPBS and without adjuvant.

Titer Analysis

For the determination of serum titers against the respective immunogenand against the screening proteins a small amount of serum of each mousewas collected in week 11 after start of the immunization campaign. Forthe ELISA the immunogen or the screening scaffold proteins wereimmobilized on the plate surface. HER1 ECD was immobilized at aconcentration of 1 μg/ml and the scaffold proteins TtSlyDcas-HER1,TtSlyDcys-HER1, TtSlyD(GSG)-HER1, TtSlyDcas, TgSlyDΔIF andTgSlyDcys-HER1 were used at a concentration of 0.5 μg/ml. The scaffoldproteins TtSlyDcas and TgSlyDΔIF were used as negative controls. Thesera from each mouse were diluted in PBS with 1% BSA and the dilutionswere added to the plates. The sera were tested at dilutions 1:300,1:900, 1:2700, 1:8100, 1:24300, 1:72900, 1:218700 and 1:656100. Boundantibody was detected with a HRP-labeled F(ab′)₂ goat anti-mouse Fcγ(Dianova) and ABTS (Roche) as a substrate.

Even on the level of serum titration it was already obvious thatimmunized mice developed antibodies against the HER1 β-hairpin domain.In mice immunized with HER1 ECD this can be shown by titration againstone of the scaffold proteins containing the dimerization β-hairpin loop.The strongly reduced signal can be explained by the fact, that themajority of antibodies raised by immunization with HER1 ECD aretargeting other parts within the ECD and only a small fraction isbinding to the dimerization β-hairpin domain. In mice immunized withHER1 dimerization loop containing scaffolds the fraction of antibodiestargeting the loop can be shown by titration against Her1 ECD (positivecontrol) and titration against an control scaffold without HER1insertion (negative control).

b) Antibody Development and ELISA Screening/Selection

The use of the here described epitope scaffold technology offers inprincipal two strategies for the development of antibodies targeting theHER1 dimerization domain (β-Hairpins of HER1). One strategy is toimmunize with the full length HER1 ECD and to use the scaffolds toscreen for the dimerization domain specific antibodies. The otherstrategy is the direct use of the scaffold for immunization and to usethe HER1 ECD, a scaffold with another backbone or a scaffold withoutinsertion for counter screening. Antibodies were developed withhybridoma technology by fusing primary B-cells with P3X63Ag8.653 myelomacells. 2 days after the final booster immunization, immunized mice weresacrificed and spleen cell populations were prepared. The spleenocyteswere fused with P3X63Ag8.653 by using the PEG fusion technology. Thecellular batch culture from the fusion was incubated overnight at 37° C.under 5% CO₂. The following day the cellular batch containing fusedcells was centrifuged for 10 min at 300 g. Thereafter, the cells weresuspended in hybridoma selection media supplemented with 0.1×azaserine-hypoxanthine (Sigma) and were seeded at a concentration of2.5×10⁴ cells per well in 96 well plates. The plates were cultured forat least 1 week at 37° C. under 5% CO₂. 3 days prior to ELISA analysisthe selection media was changed.

Primary culture supernatants were tested in ELISA against HER1 ECD andvarious scaffold proteins. The testing against the scaffold proteins wasdone to demonstrate that the selected clones are binding to thedimerization domain β-hairpin of native HER1 ECD. The testing againstthe control scaffolds TtSlyDcas and TgSlyDΔIF was done to show that theselected clones are binding the inserted HER1 derived sequence and notthe scaffold backbone. For the ELISA screening an antigen down formatwas used. HER1 ECD was immobilized at a concentration of 1 μg/ml and thescaffold proteins TtSlyDcys-HER1, TgSlyDcys-Her1 and TtSlyDcas wereimmobilized at a concentration of 0.5 μg/ml. Hybridoma Supernatant wasadded to the plates and incubated for 1 h at room temperature. Boundantibody was detected with a Horse radish peroxidase (HRP)-labeledF(ab′)₂ goat anti-mouse Fcγ (Dianova) and2,2′-Azino-di-[3-ethylbenzthiazoline sulfonate (6)] diammonium salt(ABTS) (Roche) was used as a HRP-substrate.

HRP-labeled F(ab′)₂ ABTS (Roche) was used as a HRP-substrate.

TABLE 3 Evaluation of the selected clones by ELISA. The clones weretested against the scaffold proteins TtSlyDcys-HER1, TgSlyDcys-HER1 andthe full length HER1 ECD to verify their HER1 dimerization domain insert(β-Hairpin of HER1 (SEQ ID NO: 1)) specificity. As a negative controlthe scaffold protein TtSlyDcas was used. TtSlyDcys- TgSlyDcys- HER1Clones TtSlyDcas HER1 HER1 ECD M-31-22 0.034 3.091 2.930 3.065 M-47-010.032 0.759 0.893 1.497 M-47-04 0.044 0.493 0.803 1.275 M-47-06 0.0641.790 2.270 1.848 M-47-08 0.020 0.327 1.265 0.839 M-47-09 0.023 0.4780.138 0.603 M-47-12 0.028 0.482 0.208 1.373 M-47-13 0.023 0.732 1.0982.168 M-46-14 0.033 1.050 1.416 2.878 M-47-15 0.039 1.035 0.586 1.169M-47-16 0.020 0.967 0.434 1.037 M-50-14 0.029 2.875 2.362 2.520(=deposited MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14) M-50-21 0.032 2.061 1.099 1.039M-50-23 0.019 1.470 1.478 1.180 (=deposited MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.110.23)M-50-24 0.025 2.395 2.155 1.350 M-50-37 0.030 2.778 2.527 2.101 M-50-380.034 2.349 1.946 1.932 M-50-40 0.033 2.136 1.604 1.896

c) Immunohistochemistry

Selected clones were tested for reactivity and specificity in IHC.Therefore HEK293 cells were transiently transfected with plasmids codingfor full length HER1, HER2, HER3 or HER4, respectively. 2 days aftertransfection the different cell lines now expressing HER1, HER2, HER3 orHER4 were harvested, subsequently fixed in formalin and embedded inAgarose for generation of IHC controls. After an additional fixation informalin overnight the Agarose blocks were embedded in paraffin.Untransfected HEK293 cells were used as negative controls and treatedaccordingly to the transfected cells. After paraffin embedding 3 μm thinsections were prepared using a microtome. The sections were mounted onglass microscopy slides and dried for 2 h. All further steps of theimmunohistochemical staining procedure were carried out using a VentanaBenchmark XT. The slides were dewaxed and antigen retrieval wasperformed by applying heat for 1 hour. For antigen retrieval the Ventanabuffer CC1 was used. The antibodies were used at a concentration of 1μg/ml. For the detection of bound antibody the Ventana UltraViewdetection kit was used. Results are shown in FIG. 5. All tested clonesshowed binding to HER1 and no cross reactivity against HER2, HER3 orHER4 was detectable.

d) DNA Sequencing of Selected Anti-Her1 Hybridoma

To obtain the DNA sequences of the selected hybridoma clones a 5′ RacePCR was conducted. For the RT-PCR total RNA are prepared from 5×10⁶cells by using a total RNA purification kit (Qiagen). The reversetranscription and the PCR were conducted using a 5′prime RACE PCR kit(Roche). The resulting PCR fragments from heavy and light chain arepurified by gel electrophoresis and subsequent gel purification. The PCRfragments are cloned using the Topo Zero-Blunt cloning kit (Invitrogen)and transformed into competent cells. Several clones from each hybridoma(e.g Clones M-31-22, M-37.058.09 (MAK <HER1-DIB> M-37.058.09 (DSMACC3238)), M-37-15 (MAK <HER1-DIB> M-37.186.15 (DSM ACC3239)), M-47-01,M-47-04, M-47-06, M-47-08, M-47-09, M-47-12, M-47-13, M-46-14, M-47-15,M-47-16, M-50-14 (MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14 (DSM ACC3240)), M-50-21,M-50-23 (MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.110.23 (DSM ACC3241)), M-50-24, M-50-37,M-50-38 and M-50-40) are submitted for sequencing to obtain a consensussequences for the selected clones.

Example 3

Exemplary Epitope Mapping of an Anti-HER1 Antibody (M-47-13)Peptide-Based 2D Epitope Mapping

In another embodiment a peptide-based epitope mapping experiment wasdone to characterize the HER1 ECD epitopes by using the CelluSpots™Synthesis and Epitope Mapping technology. Epitope mappings were carriedout by means of a library of overlapping, immobilized peptide fragments(length: 15 amino acids) corresponding to the sequences of human HER1ECD, HER2 ECD, HER3 ECD and HER4 ECD peptide hairpins. In FIG. 6, thestrategy of the epitope mapping is shown. The peptide hairpin sequences(β-hairpin) of HER1 (EGFR) ECD, HER2 ECD, HER3 ECD and HER4 ECDincluding their structural embeddings (structural) were investigated.Cysteins were replaced by serines. Each peptide synthesized was shiftedby one amino acid, i.e. it had 14 amino acids overlap with the previousand the following peptide, respectively. For preparation of the peptidearrays the Intavis CelluSpots™ technology was employed. In thisapproach, peptides are synthesized with an automated synthesizer(Intavis MultiPep RS) on modified cellulose disks which are dissolvedafter synthesis. The solutions of individual peptides covalently linkedto macromolecular cellulose are then spotted onto coated microscopeslides. The CelluSpots™ synthesis was carried out stepwise utilizing9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl (Fmoc) chemistry on amino-modified cellulosedisks in a 384-well synthesis plate. In each coupling cycle, thecorresponding amino acids were activated with a solution of DIC/HOBt inDMF. Between coupling steps un-reacted amino groups were capped with amixture of acetic anhydride, diisopropylethyl amine and1-hydroxybenzotriazole. Upon completion of the synthesis, the cellulosedisks were transferred to a 96-well plate and treated with a mixture oftrifluoroacetic acid (TFA), dichloromethane, triisoproylsilane (TIS) andwater for side chain deprotection. After removal of the cleavagesolution, the cellulose bound peptides are dissolved with a mixture ofTFA, TFMSA, TIS and water, precipitated with diisopropyl ether andre-suspended in DMSO. The peptide solutions were subsequently spottedonto Intavis CelluSpots™ slides using an Intavis slide spotting robot.

For epitope analysis, the slides prepared as described above were washedwith ethanol and then with Tris-buffered saline (TBS; 50 mM Tris, 137 mMNaCl, 2.7 mM KCl, pH 8) before blocking for 16 h at 4° C. with 5 mL 10×Western Blocking Reagent (Roche Applied Science), 2.5 g sucrose in TBS,0.1% Tween 20. The slide was washed with TBS and 0.1% Tween 20 andincubated afterward with 1 μg/mL of the corresponding IGF1 antibodies inTBS and 0.1% Tween 20 at ambient temperature for 2 h and subsequentlywashed with TBS+0.1% Tween 20. For detection, the slide was incubatedwith anti-rabbit/anti-mouse secondary HRP-antibody (1:20000 in TBS-T)followed by incubation with chemiluminescence substrate luminol andvisualized with a LumiImager (Roche Applied Science). ELISA-positiveSPOTs were quantified and through assignment of the correspondingpeptide sequences the antibody binding epitopes were identified.

As depicted in FIG. 7, M-47-13 shows a HER1 ECD epitope with the aminoacid sequence TYQMDVNPEG (SEQ ID NO: 19) with no detectable signalsversus the hairpin motives in the HER2 ECD, the HER3 ECD or the HER4 ECDM31-22 shows a slightly different epitope. M-50-14 (deposited MAK<HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14 (DSM ACC3240)) and M-50-23 (deposited MAK<HER1-DIB> M-50.110.23 (DSM ACC3241)) show a HER1 ECD epitope with theamino acid sequence MLYNPTTYQ (SEQ ID NO:20) with no detectable signalsversus the hairpin motives in the HER2 ECD, the HER3 ECD or the HER4ECD.

Example 4

Kinetic Screening/Binding Properties of Anti-HER1 β-Hairpin Antibodies

The kinetic screening is performed according to Schraeml et al.(Schraml, M. and M. Biehl, Methods Mol Biol 901 (2012) 171-181) on aBIAcore 4000 instrument, mounted with a Biacore CM5 sensor. In all assaythe test antibodies are captured. The system is under the control of thesoftware version V1.1. The instrument buffer was HBS-EP (10 mM HEPES (pH7.4), 150 mM NaCl, 1 mM EDTA, 0.05% (w/v) P20). The system is operatedat 25° C. 30 μg/ml Rabbit polyclonal antibody (RAM IgG, (Rabbit antiMouse IgG with Fc gamma specificity) GE Healthcare) in 10 mM sodiumacetate buffer (pH 4.5) is immobilized using EDC/NHS chemistry accordingto the manufacturer's instructions on the spots 1, 2, 4 and 5 in theflow cells 1, 2, 3 and 4. The sensor is saturated using 1M ethanolamine.In each flow cell, referenced signals are calculated using spots 1-2 andspots 5-4, spot 3 served as a blanc control. The antigen (humanrecombinant HER1 ECD, and one of the recombinant Thermus thermophilusTtSlyDcas-HER1, TtSlyDcys-HER1, TtSlyD(GSG)-HER1, TtSlyD(CC)-HER1,TtSlyD(SS)-HER1, Thermococcus gammatolerans TgSlyDcys-HER1 comprisingthe β-hairpin peptide of HER1 (SEQ ID NO:1)) is diluted at 150 nM ininstrument buffer supplemented with 1 mg/ml CMD (Carboxymethyldextran,Sigma). to suppress unspecific binding. Prior to their application thehybridoma culture supernatants are diluted 1:5 in instrument buffer. Thediluted mixtures are injected at a flow rate of 30 μl/min for 2 min. Theantibody capture level (CL) in response units is monitored. Immediatelythereafter the respective antigen is injected at a flow rate of 30μl/min for 3 min association time. Thereafter, the antibody-antigencomplex dissociation signal is recorded for 5 min. The sensor isregenerated by injecting a 10 mM glycine-HCl solution (pH 1.7) for 2 minat a flow rate of 30 μl/min. The recorded signal shortly before the endof the injection of the antigen is denoted as binding late (BL) inresponse units. The recorded signal shortly before the end of therecording of the dissociation is denoted as stability late (SL) inresponse units. The dissociation rate constants are determinedcalculated The antibody-antigen complex stability in minutes iscalculated with the following formula: ln(2)/60*kd. The Molar Ratio wascalculated with the formula: MW (antibody)/MW (antigen)*BL (antigen)/CL(antibody).

Binding Late (BL) represents the response units at the end of theanalyte injection. The amount of antibody captured as a ligand on thesensor surface is measured as Capture Level (CL) in response units.Together with the information of the molecular weights of the testedanalytes, the antibody and the analyte in solution, the Molar Ratio canbe calculated. In case the sensor is configurated with a suitable amountof antibody ligand capture level, each antibody should be able tofunctionally bind at least to one analyte in solution, which isrepresented by a Molar Ratio of MR=1.0. Then, the Molar Ratio is also anindicator for the valence mode of analyte binding. The maximum valencecan be MR=2 for an antibody binding two analytes, one with each Fabvalence. In case of steric limitations or a dysfunctional analytebinding, the Molar Ratio can indicate understoichiometric binding, likeit is the case when the HER1 ECD is being bound in its “closed”conformation by the anti HER1 β-hairpin antibodies of the invention (asthis β hairpin is hidden in the closed conformation. The maximum assaydeviation in the determination of the Molar Ratio is MR=0.2.

Example 5

Time Dependent Internalization Analyses of Anti-HER1 β-HairpinAntibodies Via Western Blot!

Binding of anti-HER1 β-hairpin antibodies to and internalization ofanti-HER1 β-hairpin antibodies was analyzed in Western Blot using theHER1 expressing cancer cell line A549.

HER1 expressing A549 (ATCC® CCL-185™ lung carcinoma) cells were seededinto 24-well-plates (3×105 cells/well, media containing 10% FCS). On thenext day the media was replaced by starving media (0.5% FCS). Four hourslater (24 hours before cell lysis), antibody M-50-14 (=deposited MAK<HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14) was added to two wells of each cell line to afinal concentration of 185 μg/ml. On the next day antibody M-50-14(=deposited MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14) was added again at the followingtimes: cell lysis minus 6 hours, minus 4 hours, minus 2 hours, minus 1hour. Ten minutes before cell lysis one well of each time point wasstimulated with hEGF (final concentration 200 ng/ml). The cells werelysed with 40 μl Triton Lysis Buffer. SDS-PAGE was performed, followedby semi-dry Western Blotting. The membranes were incubated withantibodies against HER1 (Upstate #06-847), PhosphoHER1 (Epitomics#1139-1) and Phosphotyrosine (Millipore #16-105).

Results are shown in FIG. 9 (A549 cells) Left side shows time dependentHER1 detection in the absence of EGF, right side shows time dependentHER1 detection in the presence of EGF. Antibody M-50-14 shows a clearlystronger HER1 internalization in the presence than in the absence ofEGF. (more than 70 percent internalization of HER1 in the presence ofEGF after 2 h after incubation with the antibody in a Western Blot assaywith HER1 expressing A549 cells and less than 55 percent internalizationof HER1 in the absence of EGF after 2 h after incubation with theantibody in a Western Blot assay with HER1 expressing A549 cells).

Example 6

Inhibition (No Induction of) HER1 Phosphorylation by AntiHER1 AntibodyBinding in HER1 Expressing A549 and A431 Cancer Cells

HER1 expressing A549 (ATCC® CCL-185™ lung carcinoma) cells and A431(ATCC® CRL-1555™—skin cancer/epidermoid carcinoma) cells were seededinto 24-well-plates (3×105 cells/well, media containing 10% FCS). On thenext day the media was replaced by starving media (0.5% FCS). Four hourslater (24 hours before cell lysis), antibody was added to two wells ofeach cell line to a final concentration of 185 μg/ml. On the next dayantibody was added again at the following times: cell lysis minus 6hours, minus 4 hours, minus 2 hours, minus 1 hour. Ten minutes beforecell lysis one well of each time point was stimulated with hEGF (finalconcentration 200 ng/ml). The cells were lysed with 40 μl Triton LysisBuffer. SDS-PAGE was performed, followed by semi-dry Western Blotting.The membranes were incubated with antibodies against HER1 (Upstate#06-847), PhosphoHER1 (Epitomics #1139-1) and Phosphotyrosine (Millipore#16-105).

Results are shown in FIGS. 8A (A549 cells) and 8B (A431 cells, strongHER1 expression with slight constitutively activated/phosphorylatedHER1). Left lane shows HER1 detection, right lane the phosphorylatedHER1 detection in th absence or presence of EGF

In both cancer cell lines the anti-HER1 β-hairpin antibodies HER1dib1=M-50-14 (=deposited MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14 ((DSM ACC3240)),HER1 dib2=M-50-23 (=deposited MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.110.23 (DSM ACC3241))and HER1 dib3=M-47-15 show no induction of phosphorylation and act asnon-agonistic HER1 antibodies (in the absence of EGF ligand, -lane),while other HER1 antibodies like cetuximab, GA201 (imgatuzumab, CASnumber 959963-46-3 a humanized, glycoengineered IgG1 mAb derived byhumanization of the parental ICR62 rat antibody, described e.g. in WO2006/082515), or ABT806 (mAb806, targets the EGFR deletion variant,de2-7 EGFR as well as wild-type, described e.g in US2011/0076232) wereinduced strong phosphorylation (in the absence of EGF, compared tomedium without antibody or to the antibodies of the present invention).

Example 7

Binding of Ligand EGF to HER1 (EGFR)-ECD in the Presence of Anti-HER1β-Hairpin Antibodies (ELISA)

A Streptavidin-coated 96-well plate was incubated at 4° C. with cellculture supernatant containing SBP-tagged HER1-ECD. On the next day thewells were washed three times with washing buffer (PBS+0.05% Tween-20)and blocked with PBS containing 1% BSA for one hour. After another threewashes with washing buffer, 40 μl antibody solution (in Delfia BindingBuffer) was added to each well as a 2× stock of the desired finalconcentrations (10⁻³ to 10³ nM,). Immediately 40 μl of 20 nMEuropium-labeled EGF was added to achieve a final concentration of 10nM. The plates were incubated on a shaker at room temperature for twohours. Following three washes with Delfia Wash Buffer, DelfiaEnhancement Solution was added and incubated on a shaker for 15 minutes(light protected). Finally, the plates were measured in a Tecan InfiniteF200 reader using a time-resolved fluorescence measurement protocol. TheHER1 dib-supernatants were used in dilutions from 1:1 to 1:10e7. Resultsfor anti-HER1 antibodies M-50-14 (50.097.14=MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.097.14(DSM ACC3240.); M-50-23 (50.110.23=MAK <HER1-DIB> M-50.110.23 (DSMACC3241.); M-47-15 (M-47.259.15); M-31-22 (M-31.021.22); M-37-09 (MAK<HER1-DIB> M-37.058.09 (DSM ACC3238); M-37-15 (MAK <HER1-DIB>M-37.186.15 (DSM ACC3239) are shown in FIG. 10.

1. A method for selecting an antigen binding protein that binds to humanHER1, wherein the antigen binding protein binds within an amino acidsequence of PPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ ID NO:1) of human HER1; wherein a)at least one polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:SEQ ID NO: 12 TtSlyDcas-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 14 TtSlyD(GSG)-HER1, SEQ ID NO: 15 TtSlyD(CC)-HER1,SEQ ID NO: 16 TtSlyD(SS)-HER1, and SEQ ID NO: 18 TgSlyDcys-HER1,

which comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1; is used toselect antigen binding proteins, which show binding to the at least onepolypeptide under a) and thereby selecting an antigen binding proteinthat binds within an amino acid sequence of PPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ IDNO:1) of human HER1.
 2. (canceled)
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein theantigen binding protein is an antibody. 4-20. (canceled)
 21. The methodof claim 1, wherein the antigen binding protein binds to a polypeptideof SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-Her1.


22. The method of claim 21, wherein the antigen binding protein binds toa polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 13 TtSlyDcys-Her1

with an at least 50 times higher ELISA signal when compared to thebinding to a polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 11 TtSlyDcas

in an ELISA assay, wherein TtSlyDcys-HER1 and TtSlyDcas were immobilizedat a concentration of 0.5 μg/ml.
 23. The method of claim 1, wherein theantigen binding protein binds within an amino acid sequence ofPPLMLYNPTTYQMDVNPEGK (SEQ ID NO:1) which is comprised in a polypeptideof SEQ ID NO: 13 (TtSlyDcys-Her1).
 24. The method of claim 21, whereinthe antigen binding protein is an antibody.
 25. The method of claim 24,wherein the antibody does not induce phosphorylation of HER1 in A549cancer cells (ATCC CCL-185) in the absence of EGF.
 26. The method ofclaim 24, wherein the antibody shows more than 70 percentinternalization of HER1 in the presence of EGF after 2 h afterincubation with the antibody in a Western Blot assay with HER1expressing A549 cells (ATCC CCL-185) and shows less than 55 percentinternalization of HER1 in the absence of EGF after 2 h after incubationwith the antibody in a Western Blot assay with HER1 expressing A549cells.
 27. The method of claim 24, wherein the antibody is a human,humanized, or chimeric antibody.
 28. The method of claim 24, wherein theantibody is a full length IgG1 antibody or IgG4 antibody.
 29. The methodof claim 24, wherein the antibody is a Fab fragment.